NYRA Stewards BLOW it big time

[the little guy]

Originally Posted by Tom

No, semi colon at best. The horse was clearly, imho, pulled back off balance right out of the gate. That affected the most bettors as it was the 4-5 fav.

But still no excuse for not putting up the inquiry sign.

At the end of the day, to me that is the entirety of the problem. There is absolutely NO excuse not to have posted the Inquiry sign. You simply have to let the bettors know you are looking. This happens way too often if a rider does not object.

[AskinHaskin]

Were this in harness racing (where, it really takes something for somebody to get out from behind the gate before the others, I'll admit), perhaps where it concerns going inside the pylons (say, at Woodbine/Mohawk), even the announcer (not the Stewards/Judges) is often heard to recite the rules which include:

"Did the horse gain an unfair advantage?"


The answer in NY is clearly "no" in this case, and that part isn't even worthy of an inquiry.

You can speculate all you want as to whether something happened inside of the gate so as to put the horse at a disadvantage, but unless it was the assistant starter, or the machine itself (which put it at any disadvantage), then that, also, was not worthy of an inquiry.


There is no concern as to whether the horse and its own independent actions put it at a disadvantage. The implication that because it was a 4-to-5 favorite it should be regarded differently than might have been a 70-to-1 shot gives strong hints as to how it is that racism is alive and well in North America.

Listen, at the end of the day, nobody gives a #$&% whether you lost your two bucks.

If racing had inquiries each time some clown who lost his two bucks called one, well, no day would ever have a second race.

[AskinHaskin]

Originally Posted by the little guy

There is absolutely NO excuse not to have posted the Inquiry sign.

aaaaaaaaaaand, Wrong answer.

[jameegray1]

Exactly the same thing just happened at Woodbine in R2 and immediate inquiry followed by refund as a non-starter.

[Elkchester Road]

It's Saratoga...not Podunk. The Stewards there have had a rough last few days. I'm real sure they are worried about it.

[Inner Dirt]

Originally Posted by v j stauffer

I haven't heard the Stewards official explanation. However, I would guess they ruled gained no real or tactical advantage as a result of the break. No other horses were bothered and she appeared to be ADVERSELY affected as she dropped back to last for a few strides before rushing up on the outside.

For a horse to be declared a non starter as a result of a gate incident. There must be clear evidence of physical human mistake (holding on to the bridle too long for example) OR mechanical failure which there wasn't. The gate operated correctly and didn't malfunction.

The entire idea is for the Stewards to try and rule what was most equitable for all.

It seems to me they did that.

Agree with this take, the outcome was not effected.

[v j stauffer]

Originally Posted by AskinHaskin

Were this in harness racing (where, it really takes something for somebody to get out from behind the gate before the others, I'll admit), perhaps where it concerns going inside the pylons (say, at Woodbine/Mohawk), even the announcer (not the Stewards/Judges) is often heard to recite the rules which include:

"Did the horse gain an unfair advantage?"


The answer in NY is clearly "no" in this case, and that part isn't even worthy of an inquiry.

You can speculate all you want as to whether something happened inside of the gate so as to put the horse at a disadvantage, but unless it was the assistant starter, or the machine itself (which put it at any disadvantage), then that, also, was not worthy of an inquiry.


There is no concern as to whether the horse and its own independent actions put it at a disadvantage. The implication that because it was a 4-to-5 favorite it should be regarded differently than might have been a 70-to-1 shot gives strong hints as to how it is that racism is alive and well in North America.

Listen, at the end of the day, nobody gives a #$&% whether you lost your two bucks.

If racing had inquiries each time some clown who lost his two bucks called one, well, no day would ever have a second race.

I suspect you're not fully aware of what the INQUIRY sign means.

It doesn't mean they are looking to see if something wrong happened.

What it means is the Stewards want you to know they know something unusual happened and they are on top if it.

The argument about hanging the sign any time someone loses two dollars is IMO not well thought through.

If there was a five minute INQUIRY on every race every day the card would end about 30 minutes later than usual.

IMO it was an egregious error to not post INQUIRY.

It's literally the reason that sign is at their disposal.

Something VERY unusual happened and the stewards have an obligation to let the public they are on top of it.

Simply getting the decision correct is NOT ENOUGH.

We as horse players are involved, integral participants and MUST be kept in the loop.

Anything less is disrespectful and unacceptable.