Without a doubt my biggest gripe when watching a Harness race is when some muppet decides to pull out 3 wide in front of the 3 wide train and go nowhere. Was reminded of it Saturday night when watching the trot at Geelong and John Meade pulled out on $102 pop Glorys Adam at the 800 and went backwards and therefore gave anything behind it no chance at all.
I don't want to single out an individual driver as it happens at most meetings and it was just this instance that reminded me. No doubt the stewards will roll out the old "Query Driving Tactics" and "Driver advised to exercise more care in future" when in reality they have directly impacted the chances of 5-6 horses in the race. Stewards love suspending drivers who attack the leader for a prolonged period (only impacting one other horse), but these cowboys who became nothing more than road blocks always get away with it despite impacting the chances of many more runners. They are also quick to penalise drivers who don't pull out and then don't get a run but surely its less of a mistake to stay in and drive for luck than pull 3 wide on a horse that obviously has no hope and directly impact the chances of others.
It almost cost Rocknrolla the Group 1 Vicbred final Friday night when Grant Campbell pulled out in front of her on Peaces Of You and then couldn't take her into the race so she was left 4 wide and 12 metres off the leaders and would have been cruel to see her beaten. Its fair to say that Grant was within his rights to pull out when he did and only got beaten 19 metres and I don't disagree in this instance. It is however an example of how only a minor infraction in regards to this issue can impact others so you can imagine how much it can hurt when the 3 wide horse cannot go at all.
I cannot emphasise how ridiculous it seems to me that Chris Alford gets suspended for 2 weeks for excessive whip use and misses 2 group winning drives on Bonavista Bay and Broadways Best yet these blokes who totally ruin a race get away with it every single time.
All stewards have to do is put their foot down a couple of times and it wouldn't occur as frequently.
