Whats the story?

An interesting situation arises in the 9th race at Turf. today.
In the old days,when rules were rules, if a horse was reported with a saddle slip,you would frequently see in the stipes report"trainer was advised to run the horse in a breastplate in future",which I understand,prevents a saddle slip?
Now,Nicodemus in race 9 has been backed heavily,but has had a saddle slip in 2 (50%) runs.I have checked the stipes report for the last(but second) time and there is no instruction from them.
Is it now the situation that those that back that horse today must merely take their chances on a saddle slip?
Would welcome comment on 2 fronts....a) the rules and b) is there now other equipment which prevents the saddle from slipping?

Sure i seen 2 slipped saddles today,definately one in the first race..

Hey Rob as gregbucks says IN THE WORLD OF MULES THERE ARE NO RULES . The last time i got involved in the rule debate i was given so much abuse that im not sure its worth a comment. The truth is that there is no consitency in what happens- but hey thats what we have to put up with. Maybe lotto is not such a bad option.

Yeah Blood,I find that even on the forums that there is very little real interest in the rules and yet I think that making sure racing is well controlled,and SEEN to be well controlled is a prerequisite to getting new people in the game.
Image needs a clean up IMO.

rob i agree with you and blood it seems the nhra are not taking a consistent stand when pplying rules and sanctions and in some casesare just really not doing their jobs.

Rob the reason you getting little interest is people simply don't know the answer, or might not be 100% certain, especially when it comes to rulings. Direct your queries to Vee via mail and you'll get the response you looking for, which you could then post here, educating yourself and others.

2cents, give us Vee's e.mail add. perhaps he can answer my " unanswered " questions.

Sent Vee this post this morning,he usually answers..

Dear Bob,

NICODEMUS, trained by Mr B Botes is an extremely narrow horse with little girth. Although not in the Stipes report, he has been advised to run this horse in a breast plate and with a girth sponge which it is his intention to do on Saturday 27 March 2010 in Race 2.

I trust this response is satisfactory.

Regards

D DURANT
CHAIRMAN CENTRAL PROVINCES
STIPENDIARY BOARD

Thanks for the response,but leaves me with mixed feelings...BAD- saddle slipped twice before action GOOD- action has been taken BAD- why the secret...........................Does this not perhaps get to the heart of racing 's problems. The authorities act on a "need to know" basis but haven't worked out who needs to know ?

Perhaps Vee can also give us an idea of how the "in and out" rule applies and when last a horse has been suspended for this (how many times per year does it occur)? Does it still exist and if so why is in not been applied more strictly to protect the betting public? Horses may be flesh and blood but sometimes I think too much is being made of the fact that they are 'animals' - so are humans animals and if the Blue Bulls beat the Lions five weeks in a row then get a walloping for no good reason the public would be up in arms - why do we just accept this excuse whenever a horse runs badly?

I'd also like to find out about false pace races - do the stipes check up on average times to see if the race is being run at true pace? "Cape Crawl" etc plays havoc with form book. Also who checks to see if the oncourse clocks are calibrated correctly and how often is this being done? And finally why will gauteng and phumelela not publish horse weights to aid the punter?

Have had an interaction,on another thread, on that subject Mr H.It became apparent that the first problem was that inconsistent running needs to be agreed and defined...NHA have only acted when the turnaround is 20+ lengths.Well that is worthless and flag waving.
I would love to debate this subject with the NHA.....I think a lot could be done with this to improve image and evidence of control and it is not as complicated as some would suggest!