Jockeys refuse to race

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Jockeys refuse to race

8 years 12 hours ago
#675948
Jockeys refuse to ride
PUBLISHED: JUNE 12, 2017

Several senior jockeys at Kenilworth on Saturday refused to continue riding after the fifth race and were accused of intimidating junior riders booked to take their place…

There were angry scenes in the weighing room at Kenilworth on Saturday when several senior jockeys refused to ride – and accusations of intimidation when junior riders, booked to take their place, reneged on their commitments.

Rain started to come down about an hour before racing and continued, almost unabated, for the rest of the afternoon. After half the ten races had been run a delegation of jockeys went to the stipes and said the course was unsafe.

“The riders protested in the presence of trainers but an initial decision was made to continue the meeting,” said Nick Shearer, acting senior stipe and himself a former jockey. “We did our best to keep it going but the vast majority of jockeys were of the opinion that the track was unsafe and so the rest of the meeting was then abandoned.”

kenilworthtrack anThose attempting to keep the show on the road included fellow stipe Cecil van As and apprentice riding master Terrance Welch who booked less established riders to replace the big names – no easy task when trainers had also to be consulted. But their efforts were thwarted when a number of those accepting rides announced that they had changed their minds after returning from the jockeys’ inner sanctum – and a presumably hostile reception.

A few of the trainers promptly gave vent to their annoyance, and it is easy to understand why. Getting a horse ready for a race takes weeks, if not months, of hard work and to have it thwarted by the last man in the chain must be infuriating. They were faced with replanning everything and explaining to the owners footing the bill that it could be many weeks before there is another suitable race.

Jockeys refusing to ride when conditions underfoot turn nasty is nothing new in Cape Town even though, curiously, it is much rarer in the wetter parts of Europe where they frequently ride on atrocious ground.

That said, it is the jockeys whose necks are on the line and who are in the best position to judge whether the weather and the ground are making their job even more dangerous than usual. Riding a highly strung thoroughbred at speeds of up to 60 kilometres an hour calls for guts of a special kind and, if jockeys believe that conditions are increasing their chances of being pitched into a deadly sea of flailing metal-tipped hooves, their views have to take priority over all else. If any of them were killed or paralysed, after being put under pressure to ride, South African racing would never be allowed to forget it.

Aldo Domeyer won three of the five races run, and has now scored on half his last 22 Kenilworth rides, but it was Piet Botha who stole his thunder. The 40-year-old, medically boarded with supposedly-permanent nerve damage, rode his first winner for seven years when springing a 50-1 shock on Jay Rock and two races later he did it again on the appropriately named Dreaming Big who started at 66-1. He must have thought he was dreaming – certainly the bookmakers did.

Both winners were for Glen Puller who has had a tough season and who has done so much to help the rider with his return to the fray. “I didn’t think I could come back and it was my 12-year-old son Adrian who pushed me into it,” Botha related. “I have really been wanting my first winner and now I have got two. My days are really busy. I spend the mornings on the racing work and the rest of the day on my coffee machine business. I have invested a lot of money in that so I want to keep it going.”

By Michael Clower

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  • Over the Air
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Re: Jockeys refuse to race

8 years 12 hours ago
#675952
Time for the regulator to step up and take appropriate action. Jockeys have every right to refuse to ride, but perhaps its time to take names and act. Like having a "dry" or "good weather" licence only. Jocks get paid well, and part of the reason for this is because of the risk that they take every time they get aboard a horse. I am tired of seeing jocks protest at the first sign of danger and when I compare what overseas jocks ride in conditions wise, I have little to no sympathy for them.
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  • naresh
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Re: Jockeys refuse to race

8 years 12 hours ago
#675955
Snaith Racing was also not impressed by the jockeys protest.

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  • Brendanr
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Re: Jockeys refuse to race

8 years 12 hours ago
#675958
Ridiculous that they allow junior jockeys to take a senior jockeys place if the senior jock considers the conditions unsafe to ride. Makes no sense to me.

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  • naresh
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Re: Jockeys refuse to race

8 years 12 hours ago
#675960
In years gone by Cape Town had some real mudlarks, like Going For Glory (Dam of Caughtintheslips who is the dam of Doosra and Green Top), Bad Influence, Dominion Ruler, etc.

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  • Bob Brogan
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Re: Jockeys refuse to race

8 years 12 hours ago
#675961
Mr H sent me a whatsapp after the first race saying , Bob there are too many JHB riders racing in WC today, wait for the protest!

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  • Richie77
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Re: Jockeys refuse to race

8 years 12 hours ago
#675963
My issue with this whole scenario is that there was a difference of opinion between jocks and regulator. How can 1 say its safe and the others not? Surely there has to be some guidelines followed so that the decision is not made out of opinion.
I didn't choose the #puntlife, the #puntlife chose me!

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  • Jurgs
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Re: Jockeys refuse to race

8 years 11 hours ago
#675966
Richie hits the nail on the head, the regulator should be in a position to make the call and the jocks bound to accept the ruling. Consider for a moment jobs where there are high risks involved, firemen, policemen, etc and imagine the response if they refused to work if the situation was deemed unsafe. Our jocks are a bunch of scared babies! Ota sums it up well, overseas jocks race under far worse conditions. Too easy for some it seems

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  • sucker
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Re: Jockeys refuse to race

8 years 10 hours ago
#675980
loved gavin lerena's quip where he stated that travelling to flamingo park would now be a breeze compared to whats required to maintain your job in England.
would love to hear from G L, WHEN HE FINALLY FINISHES HIS STINT THERE, what "atrocious" CONDITIONS REALLY MEAN

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  • thisotherdude
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Re: Jockeys refuse to race

8 years 6 hours ago
#676042
Watched a race in the UK last week think it was at Carlisle and it was pissing down. A far cry to the slight drizzle I saw at Kenilworth

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  • Brendanr
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Re: Jockeys refuse to race

7 years 11 months ago
#676111
thisotherdude wrote: Watched a race in the UK last week think it was at Carlisle and it was pissing down. A far cry to the slight drizzle I saw at Kenilworth

Big difference in the weather they ride in, however, what difference is there in the tracks, track condition during rain, drainage, climate, track management etc, in SA vs in UK..?

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  • Bob Brogan
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Re: Jockeys refuse to race

7 years 11 months ago
#676115
Brendanr wrote:
thisotherdude wrote: Watched a race in the UK last week think it was at Carlisle and it was pissing down. A far cry to the slight drizzle I saw at Kenilworth

Big difference in the weather they ride in, however, what difference is there in the tracks, track condition during rain, drainage, climate, track management etc, in SA vs in UK..?

Kenilworth surface has to be up there with the best in the world
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