The horse coming up the fence in this race, Kyle Loch, was going to win the race for sure, and then it galloped.
It lost momentum and ground and fell back to finish 4th instead of 1st.
The RIB Adjudicator Geoff Hall disqualified it from the race after the Chief Steward Vinnie Munroe lodged an objection to the placings.
This is what Professor Hall said.
After viewing the videos, the Committee is satisfied that KYLE LOCH was not in its proper gait for a distance in excess of 50 metres in the final 200 metres.
KYLE LOCH was free of interference at the time.
The breaking horse regulations are clear in that the horse is deemed to be in breach of r 870(3) in that it has failed to promptly regain its proper gait.
As KYLE LOCH has gained an advantage over the field, it is appropriate that the horse be disqualified.
The galloping horse is in breach of rule 870(3) because it didn’t get back into its gear.
It gained an advantage, and is therefore disqualified.
Lock in that in for a second and remember it.
The horse coming down the extreme outside, Justine Jacka, looked a gig chance of running second, but then it galloped too and lost all momentum, and finished back in fifth.
Justine Jacka was promoted to fourth when Kyle Loch was disqualified, and then it was disqualified too.
Adjudicator Hall said the same thing that he did about Kyle Loch.
After viewing the videos, the Committee is satisfied that JUSTINE JACCKA was not in its proper gait for a distance in excess of 50 metres in the final 200 metres.
JUSTINE JACCKA was free of interference at the time.
The breaking horse regulations are clear in that the horse is deemed to be in breach of r 870(3) in that it has failed to promptly regain its proper gait.
As JUSTINE JACCKA has gained an advantage over the field, it is appropriate that the horse be disqualified.
It all sounds good, right?
Wrong.
Totally wrong.
A horse cannot be disqualified under rule 870(3).
It is merely a descriptive rule that says Any horse which breaks from its gait shall promptly regain its proper gait.
There is no power under the rule to do anything at all.
The powers of relegation vest under rule 870(4), which reads as follows (with emphasis added):
(4) Any horse which breaks from its gait in any race and:-
(a) which fails to promptly regain its proper gait; and/or
(b) which is not taken clear of the field; and/or
(c) in respect of which all reasonable steps are not taken to return it to its proper gait;
and/or
(d) which fails to lose ground by the break;
may (in addition to any other penalty imposed pursuant to Rule 1003 hereof) subject to the
provisions of the Breaking Horse Regulations made by the Board, be placed by the
Adjudicative Committee immediately after any other horse in respect of which any
advantage may have been gained.
Are you with me?
A galloping horse cannot be disqualified from a race.
It can only be relegated to the place in the race immediately behind any other horse that it gained an advantage over by galloping.
Neither Kyle Loch nor Justine Jacka gained an advantage over any other horse by galloping.
As you can see clearly in the replay, both horse were severely DISADVANTAGED by galloping, and all the other runners gained an advantage over them.
As such, there were no grounds at all on which the Adjudicator could relegate them from their 4th and 5th positions, and absolutely none on which Professor Hall could fully disqualify them from the race.
Adjudicator Hall has utterly misinterpreted and applied the rule, and his decision is neither correct, lawful nor valid.
“But Adjudicator Geoff Hall is a Professor of Law” I hear you cry. “And you Mr Archie Butterfly are an uneducated bum. What would you know?”
My answer?
More about racing and racing law than any professor in the land, barring perhaps the late, great Roy Higgins.
There is no rule under which these two horses could have been disqualified.
Like all of us in this life, no matter how learned or how dumb, Professor Geoff Hall has made a mistake here, a glaring error.
As a result the connections of the two horses concerned have been denied prizemoney to which they were lawfully entitled.
There is no shame in admitting that you were wrong.
These disqualifications need to be reversed, and the Professor’s error corrected.
The integrity of racing demands it.