Derby playing field not level

THIS is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about Saturday’s Royal Oak Derby. How do I know? Because I am a part owner of a horse that raced in both the Derby and the Oaks at Santa Rosa Park, Arima. In fact, it was a different experience in one as against the other. In the Oaks, our horse was the favourite and in the Derby, it was an outsider and in the end finished out of the money. But this is about a level playingfield, of fair play and transparency —  the watchwords of this columnist, in print, on the radio and on the television, never scared to speak the truth against all the odds. My watchwords remain intact at all times — “Dancing Brave” and “Fear is not a Factor”.

In the parade ring for the Trinidad Derby, the tension was evident for those who felt that their horse could win, and quite frankly that meant everyone including those of us who had horses rated at 99-1. Trainer Bertram Dookeran approached me with a smile on Saturday and said that at one-nine to come last with Timberlake in the now very popular annual Derby tip for “Who Will Come Last” column on Saturday in Newsday — his instructions were clear, at least beat one horse to avoid this ignominy. That was fun and in fact the general bantering was fun, with all the horses in the parade ring being given the eye over by the public, whose viewing of a horse before the race is important. Most of the punters take time out to watch the horses before they are saddled and then watch their behaviour as they are being saddled.

It gives an idea of the temperament and feistiness of the horse before the race. But this is where the trouble started. Not all the horses were in the parade ring for the Trinidad Derby and it was already 3.40 pm with the Trinidad Derby scheduled for 3.50 pm. Then three trainers/owners approached me and asked me if I knew what was going on and that they were annoyed with this preferential treatment. These are the facts. The two missing horses from the parade ring of the 12 horses due to race in the Derby were Border Dispute and Flying Millie, both trained by Jack Debideen. This is not the first time —  in the Oaks on Emancipation Day, Flying Millie was not among the other horses in the parade ring also. But two minutes before the horses left to parade in front of the Grand Stand, she appeared already saddled and calm.

Clearly if there is to be a level playingfield, then all the horses must be together at the start and must all experience the same anxiety and pressure. That is why racing is considered to be interesting because everyone should be given the same opportunities to succeed. Favouritism is a travesty and again spells out why racing is divided and why at this stage unity will be hard to achieve in the sport. It also continues to convince many of the class divisions in horse racing, which were supposed to be eradicated with the formation of the Arima Race Club. More importantly what about the punters who would have been wondering where were these two horses for over twenty minutes while the other ten horses were visible to all. Is it that the Arima Race Club care even less for the people that spend their money on the track? For a Derby and for any major race all the horses must be in the parade ring. Anything else will be perceived as unfair and illegitimate. But it seems nobody wants to talk about it.

It is stated clearly, that the purpose of a parade ring and saddling enclosure is to parade and saddle. When two horses can be allowed to be saddled in the comfort of their stalls and then brought to the ring, they will definitely have an advantage. It is understood that the Arima Race Club and the Trinidad and Tobago Racing Authority are trying to ensure that these things do not happen, and indeed they should. Instead by placing ridiculous fines such as $50 or $100 if someone ignores this rule is pure stupidity and shows the indifference the management places on rules. If this continues, then owners and trainers have every right to believe that there is one rule for some and another for others. This would not happen anywhere else in the world especially for a major race. It has now happened twice and people in racing are raising queries suggesting they are not happy. It is time for the truth to be told. We never read of any fine for the connections in the Oaks and  the stewards’ report never addressed the matter.

The horse that day was Flying Millie which incidentally won. On Saturday it was Flying Millie again, who eventually placed third. Some will say that fillies are temperamental but there were three other fillies in the race that faced the music and the parade ring. The connections have been allowed to get away with this in the past and they have done it again. But it is not their fault. Indeed Crown Point’s connections can feel aggrieved because their horse lost by a short head and had to endure the parade ring, rain and all the attention from over 1,000 people before the start of the race. And these connections play by the rules to the extent that Crown Point’s groom paraded him over and over with the other nine horses. But then again, this was the price of taking entry in the race, so as the favourite, the proud connections gave the public value for their money. However, two others did not.

No wonder there was more applause for the beaten Crown Point than the winner. Crown Point may have lost this battle but he won the hearts of the people. Maybe in the future, the sponsors can request in all races unless there are exceptional cases, that all horses be saddled in the parade ring. If not the fine should be in the range of a percentage of the overall purse, between 15 and 20 percent. By the way, Timberlake was indeed last and Golden Gump second to last, so I got the forecast right and for the seventh time in eight years predicted the end of the race.