By V. Lloyd Simpson, ContributorTHE ENTIRE fraternity of turfites are hopping mad about the dictatorial attitude of the responsible horseracing official or collection of officials who permitted the P. Watson-trained seven-year-old gelding Noran Batman (a five straight specialist owned by Dennis Young) to run in the ninth race on Saturday last at Caymanas Park over the distance of 1000 metres straight.
This is in lieu of the fact that the horse was ineligible to run, considering the conditions of the event which were breached.
If the horse had not finished third in the event, the big blunder might have died a natural death. But it finished third and therefore has made shambles of the Hi-five payout of $183,511.
Those fans who hold tickets on that exotic bet, including Noran Batman, are saying their stake money will have to be refunded in full.
They are legally correct, as far as I can see and it will be of considerable interest to see what will be the outcome if the matter goes to court.
The irony of the matter is that a caller phoned in to the KLAS programme on Boxing Day to point out the error.
SOMETHING WAS AMISS
Dr. Paul Wright agreed that something was amiss and warned bettors to be careful how they arrange their Hi-five bets, and said he was hoping the seeming error would be corrected by means of the withdrawal of the offending entry.
Nothing happened thereafter, all of which meant the responsible official or officials should have taken steps to remedy the error. The authorities therefore stand accused.
The fact that no action was taken must be regarded as not having the racing officials off the hook to compensate Hi-five ticket holders. I would even go further to say that any purchaser of any type of bet on Noran Batman would be entitled to repayment as well.
One of the conditions of the race was that no contender should have earned $30,000 since June 11, 2003.
Noran Batman, numbered 10 in the 14-horse field, won a race on July 16, 2003 and must have been in receipt of purse money exceeding $30,000, which made him ineligible.
It would be interesting to hear from officialdom, what is their side of the debate.
