Matt Chapman calls for action to protect punters from faulty starting stalls in his latest column
Chappers also has a fancy in Sandown's big race on Saturday
THE stewards of the BHA believe that if a horse’s stall opens at a different time to the rest of the field it makes no difference to a race.
Makes you wonder why we have stalls at all, doesn’t it?
Over the last couple of weeks on two separate occasions races have been marred by a stall opening late.
On both occasions the stewards decided “the incident had not materially prejudiced a sufficient number of runners” to take any further action.
To suggest a stall opening late doesn’t change a race is naive in the extreme, and shows a total void of knowledge of the Sport of Kings and, even more importantly, a lack of respect for punters.
First came the Lee Carter-trained Cadeaux Boxer, who was a big gamble for the apprentice handicap at Wolverhampton on August 23.
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Cadeaux Boxer is a horse who sulks when he can’t lead - so when his stall opens late his chance is destroyed. The stewards think this is of no importance. Hello?
Then, at Southwell on August 27, Handsome Dude was drawn in stall one and his gate opened late in another apprentice handicap.
Next door to him, in stall two, East Street Revue’s stall opened but the left side of the gate bounced back into the horses face when it should have stayed open.
Handsome Dude was a 6-1 chance who finished 13th of 14.
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If you have backed any of those horses do you think you have had a run for your money? No you do not. British stewards think you have.
Now of course a hard and fast rule has consequences. A stall might open late and a horse might go and win.
But more often than not it’s not going to be great if the horse you support comes out of a box later than the rest of the field. And fractions in Flat racing make a difference.
There is no need to void such races. That is extreme.
But in my opinion if any stall is closed when all the other stalls are open then that horse should be declared a non-runner, despite where it finishes up placing. Then a Rule 4 notice put in place.
Of course it’s possible that one day there might be a match race where the stall of the 1-25 favourite opens late and the horse still wins by a distance. But that is so unlikely that I’d be happy to take the chance.
In any case punters would know the score. If you back a horse whose stall is closed when the others are all open you are out. Simples.
The BHA need to act now. Otherwise it simply embarrasses itself with the suggestion a race is not affected by a stall not opening at the same time. It is.
BHA blunder at Epsom open day
It’s been a bad week for the BHA.
On Bank Holiday Monday, the governing body thought it was a good idea to drug test Jim Boyle’s horses.
Nothing wrong with that you might think, but it so happened it was the Epsom Open Day when Boyle would be trying to help promote the sport and give the public a good time.
It’s typical BHA lack of thought.
But it gets worse.
News reaches me that the BHA will now target the horses of specific owners. Equine beasts owned by The Queen will be tested during Royal Ascot, while Nicky Henderson's yard is under attack from BHA on Cheltenham Gold Cup day.
Meanwhile, in a mass testing raid all trainers with runners in the 2019 Grand National will have to be back at their yards on the morning of the world's most watched steeplechase to welcome officials.
BHA spokesman Jim Cobalt told me: “Look, we have to get the bad guys. BHA doesn’t have any power anymore...other than with drug testing. So we have to get someone - ban someone - and test at times when trainers and owners least expect it.”
Back to reality, and it’s the Group 3 Solario today at Sandown, and I have Too Darn Hot as my Nap of the day. He looked awesome on his debut at the track.
Whatever his fate, the race will go some to better last year’s renewal. In 2017 the subsequent Derby winner Masar beat the future Irish 2000 Guineas hero Romanised.
In third was Arbalet, fifth in the Jersey and second in the International Handicap, fourth was Purser, a Listed victor, fifth was Vintager, who won a £28k handicap last time, and sixth was Connect, winner of a valuable handicap at the Derby fixture.
That was a decent race!