Stewards, then employed by the AJC, prosecuted licensed persons assailing the rules of racing and when sentenced they had the right of appeal to the AJC committee, one commented: “Stewards are the experts. Who am I to change their decisions?”
These days Racing NSW has taken over the legalities, and the appeals process is more lenient.
Certainly the Pride Of Jenni situation only disturbed a ripple compared to the tidal wave of outburst it would have stimulated under AJC rule.
Pride Of Jenni was given an unassailable lead, a stretch of daylight, to score. Critics of rival navigator Craig Williams bayed for blood, not yelling over the fence as they once did but exploding on the internet. Williams handled Mr Brightside and is becoming the favoured whipping boy for some.
To chase or not to chase is often the question in Pride Of Jenni situations. Mr Brightside was handiest to the tearaway but previous experience against her made the jockey cautious, a point he explained in depth to the satisfaction of Racing NSW stewards.
But did Pride Of Jenni go that quick? “The most important thing to note about the race is that Pride Of Jenni only went marginally faster to the 600 metre mark in the Queen Elizabeth than in the Australian Cup at her previous start,” the Racing Bureau’s Dan O’Sullivan, an opinion worth nothing, explained. “Her extreme leading margin was primarily contributed to by the incredibly casual nature of the chasing pack ….in other words, the pack could have been at least 14 lengths closer at the 600-metre mark and not have been unduly taxing their horses.”
Maybe there were other factors: the owner of Pride Of Jenni employed Peter Ellis, air freighted the renowned track walker from Melbourne, to plod the course proper with her jockey Declan Bates. Ellis found a “quicker section” from the 1600 metres.
Pride Of Jenni’s Queen Elizabeth takes me back to the 1975 McKell Cup at Rosehill when Black Tetra also led by long stretch all the way to beat Navidad.
“It was a similar scenario to the Queen Elizabeth,” former champion jockey Ron Quinton recalled recently.
“Four of us went (suspended), me (Bill) Camer, (Ray) Selkrig and Neville Voigt. Malcolm (Johnston) didn’t because I think he was an apprentice. He was about a half length in front of the rest of us.”
Being regarded as accomplished judges of pace the jockeys were outed for three months, and appealed to the AJC committee with Michael McHugh, very learned in racing matters representing them, who went on to become a High Court judge.
“They threw it out,” Quinton exclaimed.
Why didn’t you move earlier?
“I don’t know,” Quinton replied. “I think I was on a horse suspect of running 2400 metres. The same as Navidad. I used to ride him in 1500 metre Welters. There was no chance of him running a mile and a half. He took off because (jockey John) Duggan couldn’t hold him. They got away. We couldn’t catch them.”
The Pride of Jenni scenario?
Quinton: “First of all the winning rider (Declan Bates) didn’t want to go that quick anyway. She half took off with him. In the space of a furlong and a half she was that far in front it wasn’t funny. Williams was saying he couldn’t ride his horse out of his comfort zone. He’d ridden him up close and he’d got beat. It’s not an easy thing from a jockey’s point of view in something like that. It’s not cut and dried. There was an old horse of Pat Murray’s, Pirate Bird (winner of the 1968 McKell Cup to a crescendo of racegoer dissatisfaction). If you took off after him he would drop dead at the furlong. The day you didn’t he would keep going. It’s not as easy decision.”
Surely it would be more difficult to make up a big margin in a weight-for-age race the Queen Elizabeth, than a handicap like the McKelly Cup. Can a jockey afford to give a favourite like Pride Of Jenni such a break?
Quinton: “That’s true. Tommy Smith said that about WFA racing. You can’t be giving a big start. Albeit, WFA is not like it used to be. Now they are more bloody handicappers.”
However Pride Of Jenni is very good, a worthwhile Horse Of The Year and her tearaway style is reminiscent of Vo Rogue, the Queenslander who ran the opposition ragged in the late 1980’s early 90’s.
When he was creating havoc the great trainer Col Hayes commented that he would use a stablemate to take him on in front thus giving another of his string the opportunity to catch him late. It didn’t go down well. The inference was team riding, not that it wasn’t applied at times and isn’t a tactic still employed. But not openly.
Like Vo Rogue, Pride Of Jenni adds a thrilling dimension to her races. The guilty party for the Queen Elizabeth spectacular was James McDonald. Being on the $1.85 favourite, Via Sistina, JMac had little option but to keep the strongly fancied Pride Of Jenni within range. Still if he chased earlier, put his mount in a pursuing position from the outset, would Via Sistina have won? Pride Of Jenni took the sap out of Mr Brightside chasing her previously.
Had Pride Of Jenni “dropped dead”, the Quinton description, would stewards have taken action against Bates for the extravagance?
“What about poor ‘Reggie’ doing time for doing the same thing on the horse? (Regan Bayliss was suspended last year after establishing a huge lead on Pride Of Jenni before the mare faded to finish eighth of 14) – BAvdulla (@brentavdulla), tweeted and published in the “Winning Post” (April 20).
