Surely its come to the time where stewards have to be more severe when penalising drivers. This is just one instance from last Saturday night where a driver (Gavin Lang) caused interference that single handedly caused a long odds on favourite (Whiskey And Ice, $1.40) to be beaten. If we purely look at the figures from a punters perspective, there was an enormous amount wagered on Whiskey And Ice that evening and we as punters deserve better when this type of thing occurs.
This is data purely based on the Victorian TAB holds on the race
- Whiskey And Ice started $1.40 in a win pool of $44,000 so would have roughly $25,000 invested on him
- As a $1.40 fav, its fair to say that at least 50% of quaddies would be invested standing him out and with $86,000 in the pool there would be nearly $50,000 alone on him
- There was also $10,000 in the Daily Double pool of which at least another $5000 would have been invested
- There was $20,000 in trifectas so could easily include another $10k that would have stood him out to win
Thats a total of $90,000 invested in Victoria alone and would be up to 6 figures if all bet types were included, plus if we add up what was invested Australia wide on other TABs, Betfair and Corporate Bookies it would be an enormous figure
And what was the punishment you ask???
Gavin Lang received 10 days which is an absolute joke not only considering the financial losses of punters but the possible damage the horse could have suffered from the interference. Should have been a minimum 4 weeks.
From the stewards report:
Drivers Gavin Lang (Julias Song NZ) and Kimberlie Hobby (Tickle The Falcon) were questioned regarding an incident in the back straight on the final occasion where Tickle The Falcon broke. After considering all the evidence tendered driver Gavin Lang was charged under Rule 163(1)(a) for causing interference for allowing Julias Song NZ to shift out from the one out line when not sufficiently clear of Tickle The Falcon, contacting that horse and causing it to break. Driver Lang was found guilty as charged and after considering his good driving record Stewards suspended his driver's licence for a period of 10 days to commence midnight 13 November 2010.
As a result of Tickle The Falcon galloping Whiskey And Ice was severely checked and broke and Texas Typ NZ was inconvenienced.
Severe interference such as this needs to be stamped out and to only give a driver 10 days is a dead set joke. The other thing from this race I struggle to comprehend is why there wasn't a protest from Whiskey And Ice against the winner (Gavin's drive) as would have been upheld surely as after losing around 30 metres from where the interference occurred at the 500m mark, Whiskey And Ice got going again to run 5th beaten 6 metres. The stewards themselves agree that the winner caused the interference so a protest would surely have been upheld which would have also elevated Whiskey And Ice to 4th place and give the also forgotten owners a bit more prizemoney.
Not taking aim at Gavin and only used this example as its the freshest one in my mind. This stuff happens every day in every state and the sooner the punishments start fitting the crimes the better. High profile drivers get away with murder with the stewards, I hear the argument that a 2 week suspension for a top driver is akin to 3 months for a part timer but that is a just a cop out as if they do something wrong then there should be parity in the penalty. After all, it has exactly the same impact on the punter and the owner but that's right, they don't really matter any more as its all about turnover!
Its little wonder the rank and file punters are giving the caper a wide berth.
