SPORTS: DANCING BRAVE COLUMN FOR WEDNESDAY 17TH
APRIL, 2013
trinidad guardianwww.guardian.co.tt
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-------------Time to Couple -------------
Over the years, there have been numerous
calls for the racing industry to clean up its act – all of which has gone
unheeded. Those in authority continue to turn a blind eye to wrongs
which are so obvious that even Stevie Wonder could see them clearly.
Once again, following the events of Race day 13, the calls for greater
transparency will only be renewed.
The horse population in Trinidad is fairly
small and the pool of trainers even smaller. For this reason, in the
past, when calls have been made for the authorities to consider some form of
coupling for horses trained or owned by the same individuals in one race,
these calls have fallen on deaf ears. If ever there was a need for
action in this regard, the outcome of a race in which two horses trained by
one individual went off at 6/5 and 19/1 with the winner being the longer shot
animal, should trigger a response. The stewards did call the trainer in
for an explanation for the improved performance of the winner who had not won
a cent in any of his previous starts. While it is difficult to prove
nefarious behaviour, to avoid all suspicion, coupling of runners
trained/owned by the same individual should be re-examined. Even if
coupling of horses trained by one individual is not practical, coupling of
horses owned by one individual should be urgently considered.
Another area requiring early attention is the
recent spate of doping incidents. There is no racing authority so none
of the recent cases can be heard as yet but it is very alarming that for the
current racing year, we have had four cases of winners returning positive
samples after only 13 racing days. Surely the racing authorities are not
sending a message to the racing public that anything goes at the
moment. The spate of incidents is a bit strange and while it might be
merely coincidental that we have had this high incidence of positive samples,
again, we could avoid all suspicions, etc., if the proper authorities were in
place to quickly dispense justice in all such cases.
The Arima Race Club has also seemingly
decided to reduce the number of tellers available on normal race days,
seeking to only bring out a full complement on the “big” days – sponsored
days, public holidays. While this is a sensible approach, it is not
immediately obvious what sort of analysis was undertaken to determine what
the basic teller complement should be. The reality of gambling is that
most punters wait until the horses are on their way down to the start to make
their bets on a particular race. The result is that with the reduced
complement, there is almost always now a long line for bets to be placed as
the horses start to load into the stalls. While i have not monitored to
determine how many bettors are eventually turned away because of the start of
the race, it seems likely given the length of the lines that one or two
punters must have failed to get in their bets. Maybe the ARC should consider
pooling all of their available tellers in one common area on each level, so
that you do not have the situation of tellers in some areas being free while
there are punters lined up elsewhere failing to place their bets.
The final area i would like to comment on is
the ARC’s stated no-smoking policy. This policy was introduced some
time last year in keeping with the international/local push to reduce the
incidence of second hand smoke. In spite of this policy, and various
signs to this effect, racegoers continue to smoke on all levels with
impunity. The issue of course is enforcement since there is absolutely
no enforcement of any of the policies implemented/proposed by the Club.
The level of indiscipline in this regard is unfortunate and it can only be
hoped that the Club will do something more to enforce its own rules and
regulations.
One of the ways forward would be for the
Arima Race Club to put proper actions in place to maintain the surface, at
the moment; it is quite bad with many owners and trainers complaining. This
is an area that needs full time maintenance and overview and not part time
management.
In closing, i would like to extend my
condolences to the family of Dave Gaff, who lost his battle with cancer last
week Friday. Gaff was one of the more popular riders around owing to
his very affable personality and while his success as a rider was somewhat
limited, the success of a man really lies more in the impact he has on those
who he left behind. With that as criteria, Gaff could have been
considered more successful than many other riders on the local circuit
today. One horse that will forever be associated with him is
ForTheLoveofit – who must have qualified as his favourite horse. Gaff
won quite a few races for Dr. Ryan Shim on this animal and the horse’s name
is probably apropos for Gaff’s involvement in the sport. May his soul
rest in peace.
:: AB
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