Dead heat amended

A BHA investigation is under way after racing's governing body amended the result of a controversial dead-heat at Kempton last week.

Judge Dave Smith, renowned for his quick decisions on close finishes, took less than a minute to call a dead-heat between evens favourite Extra Noble and 16-1 outsider Fire Fighting in a 7f maiden for two-year-olds on Wednesday.

There was no complaint from either winning connections, but punters aired their views on Twitter and emailed the BHA.

The matter was not helped by a technical problem, with the photo-finish print, which is normally posted on the BHA website 20 minutes after the race, not appearing until the next morning and seemingly showing Extra Noble to have won.

The BHA on Monday announced it had placed Extra Noble first and Fire Fighting second and added an investigation had started.

"The process was initiated following concerns expressed at the photo-finish result of the race," said the BHA statement.

"The BHA is conducting an internal investigation into the circumstances which led to Mr Smith originally declaring the result of this race a dead-heat."

William Hill announced they will pay out on Extra Noble as a gesture of goodwill, as will Stan James and Paddy Power.

Very poor state of affairs.....................wait and see what transpires here, to think that Punters had to raise the alarm for the incorrect posting of results by the judge.(td)

Where were the Stipes................................???:S

very poor show

Stipes' should have stepped in ...

I'm not sure who remembers the race in PE maybe 20 years or so ago, where the genius judge declared the 2nd horse (who was the clear 2nd even with just the naked eye) as the winner, because he mistook a protruding hoof of the actual winner as being part of the 2nd horse's nose?

Needless to say I was on the actual winner (8/1) but the second placed favourite was declared the winner and that was that. Couldn't understand why my tote ticket kept coming up as a losing one when I returned to cash it the next day. I later saw a tiny little article in the Citizen explaining what had happened.

Don't even have to go back 20 years. The last month or so at the Vaal the horse ran 3rd by atleast 1/2 a length and the judge gave switched 3rd and 4th around and made it official. Was corrected about 15 minutes after going all clear.

Dave Smith is known as the "Judge" and is usualy spot on but this time he`s fucked and been dismissed

about time,

hibernia Wrote:

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> Dave Smith is known as the "Judge" and is usualy
> spot on but this time he`s @#$%& and been
> dismissed


One mistake in 13 years...sacked
Dumpy,13 mistakes in One meeting....still making mistakes

I know they are 2 different jobs,Smiths is a lot more crucial than Dumpies.
Do you think it warrants the bullet,I'm not sure.

Is hollywood going to pay extra noble as a full winning bet aswell?
I hope so because I backed extra noble 1000/1000 paid out 500/500.
Could do with the EXTRA cash :)o