The Golden Horseshoe on JULY day served as an example of just how bad racing in SA is with regards to interference.
The three key factors being, the horse, the jockey and the regulator.
Let's start with the horse, obviously two year olds are going to be green and shift. This however does not always happen of their own accord and i am inclined to place the least blame at this doorstep.
Jockeys, in their defense, have a tough job riding to instructions when their mounts aren't machines and do not react the same in every race. Also when they shift, eg, away from the crowd or jump a shadow, there is nothing they can do. In saying this, when watching other jurisdictions, eg Aus, the 2025 BRC Eagle Farm stakes with no false rail, there were almost no incidents and with no false rail. The jocks do not dive in, bump, slow the pace and cause interference. This is all the jockey in Aus, however in SA, the jocks would rather bump, dive in from a wide draw immediately, take up another horses running and then slam on anchors. The last 500m of the Golden Horseshoe, in my opinion was a disgrace and the result of the jockeys decisions and actions.
The Regulator either doesnt have the right rules or the rules are not enforced. Recently, an ex SA jock who was visiting intimated that the SA jocks were riding recklessly and would not get away with the same tactics in their jurisdiction. Most interesting, we host the Hong Kong Jockey club representatives this week and have races dedicated this weekend. Why? We learn nothing and are as far from running races the way they do as Kakamas is from Kathmandu.
At the end of the day, the biggest benefactors of clean races are the horses, punters and owners as well as SA racing.
Last edit: 4 weeks 2 days ago by Tigershark.
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