INCORRECT HORSES

Two trainers where fined for presenting the wrong horse to race at the Vaal
I find this difficult to understand due to the system in place
An unraced horse MUST be passed at the starting stalls prior to racing
There it is scanned and examined by usually a stipe or starter
and the passport certified
How can the trainer then not know which horse is which?
Or do they not go to the stalls themselves and leave it to a groom
The only possibility is that they each sent 2 horses and did not know Adam from Eve!!

Maybe the grooms on strike this day?

.....both horses fairly new to the respective trainers.....Grant Maroun's was unraced and he has plenty more in the stables...and Vargraves was recently moved from the late Leon Erasmus to Dave Nieuwenhuisen with other horses from there....hope that they get a chip scanner in to find out which is which before sending the wrong one next time....this Vargraves should improve with David....that's if they find the right horse.... :oops:

How did Maroun pass the unraced horse through the gates then?

...may have got that right...but back at the barn....could have been swopped during the groom fiasco...said it before a passport is not a sure identifier....and many unremarkable bay coloured are often not easy to tell apart....mix ups have happened at the course in earlier years and no one made a big deal about it...but in a more modern era every tom dick and his dog gets to know everything the NHRA prints then tweets and twitters to the world ...and to compound matters NHRA is hell bent to squeeze every dime from every infraction they can.....and then make sure that they are named and shamed giving an impression that that they are trying to purposely ring in a wrong horse....this is all due to the Happy Feet fiasco where the NHRA was the main culprit in letting a wrongly identified horse win a race... :oops:

Muhtiman wrote: .....both horses fairly new to the respective trainers.....Grant Maroun's was unraced and he has plenty more in the stables...and Vargraves was recently moved from the late Leon Erasmus to Dave Nieuwenhuisen with other horses from there....hope that they get a chip scanner in to find out which is which before sending the wrong one next time....this Vargraves should improve with David....that's if they find the right horse.... :oops:

.....David actually realized he had the wrong horse long before the race...and reported it to the identifier....who intern told the stipes....so he should have been charged with not having a carded runner on course ......as it was too late to get the right horse to the course.... unfortunately David signed for an admission of guilt on the charge of presenting the wrong horse...now had this happened at Turffies....he would have been able to get to the barn and get the right one with no one being the wiser.... :blush:

Horses should be identified on arrival

mydada wrote: Horses should be identified on arrival

...why and how...why complicate the process...HNRA do not have enough staff as it is....horse identification would then have to be repeated after arrival and at beginning of each race....also some horses on transports are lead "ponies" or horses for scheduled gallops/barrier trials...and from time to time when space is available....horses to get an educational to try out travelling instead of failing a race day trip and having to be scratched when stressed.....what purpose would one want to put a multiple checking system at cost....what would they be trying to achieve by doing so.....then why not have the horses checked before they travel then and provide an extra job or two for and industry already stressed with costs..... :huh:

There should be the days register (including ones there for a gallop etc) and all horses arriving must correspond
Another identification on entry to the saddling enclosure and both these points under control

mydada wrote: There should be the days register (including ones there for a gallop etc) and all horses arriving must correspond
Another identification on entry to the saddling enclosure and both these points under control

.....and who will fund this....the single Highveld identifier is stressed as it is....she got a lot of flack
for the Binda incident.....put more stress on her and there are bound to be bigger mistakes.... as it is I'm surprised she did not have a breakdown at the Vaal because while finding Grant Maroun's error..... along comes David with his problem....had she not been busy then....could have advised David on a better way to present his problem to the stipes and got a lessor charged infraction....most of us just think that racing is a smooth operation....yet it is becoming a mission to hold a race meeting....starts with low paid grooms doing more....not enough suitable transport or dedicated staff to assist ....race officials under paid over worked....stressed trainers dealing with un motivated staff that need constant monitoring so they dont neglect and f@ck up on the job....plenty people with opinions....but not enough moola to keep the industry running smoothly.... :S

At the end of the day the day the onus is on the trainer to present the right horse and racing to confirm
How difficult is that?

The ID Lady done her job brilliantly at the Vaal .. Let’s congratulate her