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Angus Mcnae

Captain's Blog, March 25

To run or not to run that is the question?

Nevertika was one of our Blog selections yesterday and to be honest we did not get a run for our money. The head strong Mare bolted before the start and then was allowed to take her part and was a spent force after half a mile eventually being pulled up. The decision to run was made by her trainer and Jockey in consultation with the Vet down at the start. They had every right to run their mare and I respect the fact that the Mares owners had travelled a long way to see her run, but surely running her was not in the best interests of Punters or possibly the mare herself.

Punters had backed the Mare from 8/1 to 7/2 earlier in the day and by the time the tape went up they knew they had done their money as did the Betfair boys who were happy to lay the horse at 10/1 and bigger. She was never going to be able to give her best in the race because she had used up all her energy pre race and punters knew this. Her trainer said that they felt it was best to run her so that she knew that she could not get away with such antics. To counter this I would say she did not do anything wrong, she just was so well and full of energy and exuberance that she took the jockey on thats all. What is he teaching her she cannot get away with? She did not bolt to post thinking that if she did she would not have to run, to think this is to mistakenly give a four legged animal human characteristics.

The Steward’s did not get involved in the decision to run or not and there is nothing in the rules suggesting that they have to. This is what needs to be changed. The authorities are there to police the Sport and should have the power to withdraw a horse and they need a statutory rule to allow them to do that. I propose that there should be a firm rule stating that if a horse bolts to post or gets loose on the track before Racing it must be withdrawn. The problem arises in the definition of bolting to post, but lets not cloud the issue and give stewards the decision of whether a horse bolts or merely canters round the track. Let’s keep it simple, the rule should be a statutory one with no wavering and this way the decision is taken out of the hands of trainers and jockey’s who by definition cannot be impartial.

I am heading to the Gym shortly and then will be preparing for a night in the Racing UK Studio with Nick Luck. We will be bringing you all the action from Kempton which is putting on a bumper eight race card. It will be great to be working with Nick again and we look forward to receiving your emails at www.racinguk.com. Be sure to join us from 5.30pm.

Off to the Gym now folks.

See you tomorrow.

 

Today’s Selections

8.20 Kempton – Cold Turkey (each way 4/1 Ladbrokes)

Choose a blog

Aidan Coleman

Alverton

Angus McNae

Angus Mcnae

Guest Blog

Matt Cooper

Racecaller

Resident tipster

Ruby Walsh

Tanya Stevenson

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