Racehorse TALK

NSW STEWARDS: SIMPLY AN INSULT TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC INTELLIGENCE

Who do you think will be paying the $2000 fine imposed on the rider of Faint Perfume?

One clue to the answer was a remark attributed to Bart Cummings that 'the jockeys were unhappy': reportedly,


Legendary trainer Bart Cummings said Murrihy was too focused on making his name in the media."He's very unpopular. This steward makes the rules to make himself more powerful, stewards and umpires should be seen and not heard."

Unfortunately it is no longer possible for licensed persons to speak frankly about 'who pays' but an extra $2000 is well within the range of an extra sling for riding a Group One winner.

In the press this morning it is also reported that:

RACING NSW chief steward Ray Murrihy yesterday defended the new whip rules after jockey Michael Rodd criticised his $2000 fine from Saturday's Rosehill meeting.

''It was with much regret that a situation arose in Melbourne where legal action was threatened following Nick Hall's ride on Zipping in the Australian Cup,'' Murrihy said. ''Rodd had six previous whip-use charges on his record but we took everything into account when declaring the fine.''

He said that Rodd had earned $12,500 as his winning percentage for winning the Vinery Stakes on the Bart Cummings-trained filly and believes that the fine was appropriate.

Apparently blind to the obvious intelligent inference, the Chief Steward compares the $2000 fine to the winning riders normal 5% commission -- blandly oblivious that the winning connections just trousered some $250,000 before deductions of trainers and riders commissions and slings.  Bland passing off such an odious comparison is insulting to the racing and wider community -- there is no faint perfume about this one, it stinks.

In short, everyone else knows the likely reality but the authoritarian powers of the stewards prevents everyone telling the truth -- where is the integrity in that?

The die for a confrontation in NSW over the new whip rules was cast six months ago.

Posting from the Boston Public library last September I noted that  Bob the Boss, of the unAustralian Racing Board pointedly told the NSW chief steward to butt out of the policy debate on the new whip rules -- and the rest is history: the rules left in place have been enforced predictably in NSW.

Bob the Boss, whose term is finite, will probably need to step down before a new 'leader' takes his turn at the head of a very non-national body and makes amends with the NSW stewards.

Ahead of that there are some fireworks to come -- it would be interesting to see a market, on Betfair, about the now very likely event of a NSW carnival race result being overturned because the whip rule was breached.

There is only one final outcome to this saga before the rule is changed -- and it now looms large.