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One of the best compliments you can pay a sporting
referee at the end of a contest is that you did not
notice him or her. Such is the combative nature of so
many team sports that this is often hard to come by.
Contentious decisions are regarded as part and parcel of a game
and, on the whole, the officials are usually in the right.
Horse racing is not a combat sport, at least not most of the time.
There are a global set of rules and regulations to govern everything
and while different jurisdictions have different rules, the basic tenet
of abiding by the stewards’ decision is final and absolute.
That is absolutely correct but something last Saturday caused
me a deep unease.
Gerald Mosse was the victim of a good old-fashioned shellacking
after his ride on Americain (Dynaformer) in the H E Tancred Stakes,
currently raced as The BMW (Gr 1, 2400m). Much to the chagrin
of trainer David Hayes – and the multitude of punters that backed
Americain into favouritism – Mosse proceeded to race three wide
and towards the rear for much of the race before coming with a run
in the straight to finish second behind Manighar (Linamix).
Once upon a time, Mosse would have returned to a volley of
abuse from punters, the odd race book or pie crust hurled in his
general direction and earn himself a place in the book titled ‘Great
slaughters of the turf’
Times have changed, or maybe it is the crowd that attends
racing on course these days, but apart from the trainer expressing
his displeasure at the ride – which he is entitled to do – and the print
press having a field day at excoriating the champion French jockey,
matters should have finished there.
“That was the worst performance from a world-class jockey I’ve
ever seen. It was a real shocker, an absolute slaughter,” Malcolm
Johnston said on Sydney radio.
It was events immediately after the race that raised more
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Friday 13 April 2012 ANZ
By Darryl Sherer
than an eyebrow with me. Racing NSW chief steward Ray Murrihy
commented on the ride.
Mosse felt he would have been too far back and said Americain’s
wide barrier limited his options. “I didn’t get a chance to get in. In my
mind there’s not much sense getting ten lengths back off, the pace
was not going that fast.”
Hayes told stewards the plan had been to track Manighar but the
race did not pan out. “We were hoping he could jump out and get
cover and be in touch with the grey [Manighar].”
Murrihy then felt it necessary to add his advice to Mosse. “You
don’t track three-wide in a Group One race and win them. For your
first ride in Sydney it wasn’t one of your best, you set the horse too
tough a task. It’s clear to us you should have come back and sat
behind Scarlett Lady.”
This is not the first time Murrihy has offered advice to a jockey,
telling Kerrin McEvoy he had to “toughen up or you’ll get eaten alive
here” when McEvoy returned to ride for Darley in Australia.
Gerald Mosse was retained by HH The Aga Khan for ten seasons,
he has won every major race in France and ridden Group One winners
in Hong Kong, England, North America, the UAE, Italy and Australia.
As far as I am aware, stewards are there to enforce the rules of
racing. Commenting on how a jockey should ride has nothing to do
with it unless an accusation of foul play is being made.
None of that applied in this case.
Gerald Mosse is human. He knows he rode a bad race. It
happens. He is a gentlemen and accepted the flood of abuse he
received with a calm demeanour that brought credit to his profession.
I wonder what would have happened if he, or any other jockey for
that matter, told stewards how they should conduct their job.
As I said earlier, one of the best compliments you can pay a
sporting referee at the end of a contest is that you did not notice
him or her.
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eDitoriAl editor@anzbloodstocknews.com