Jason Maguire - thoughts

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MyBoyChe

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I havent read all the reports but just my thoughts on it. It seems to me to be completely at odds with the concern for the horses welfare being paramount in the sport. We have all the changes to Aintree to make it better for the horses, then a decision like this is made. I genuinely thought Jason was trying to do the best for the horse, not beat 7 bells out of it when it had no chance. The betting odds would suggest it wasnt well fancied, it wasnt going to finish in the top 4 so what was the point in "riding a finish" I understand schooling in public is not on, but he wasnt schooling it surely, he was trying to get it home safely. I watch racing because I love it, I know some people only watch it for the betting angle but I cant believe anyone would think riding that particular horse any differently would have achieved a better finish. Am I over simplifying it? Is the sport only interested in keeping the betting fraternity happy?
 
I didn't get it at all. If he was guilty of schooling in public then so was Barry Geraghty with Sprinter Sacre. They need consistency in their decisions.
 
I totally agree the poor jocks they are damned if they do and damned if they dont, the one thing I hate is for horses to be out of contention, losing ground and still ridden on and then they fall and usually fatally because they are so tired. I think the stewards have got this so wrong and when you have Animal Aid breathing down their neck then they have to prove that welfare is their highest concern not some bloke in a betting shop.
 
Like you say, DG, it didn't look to me as though beating that horse would have improved its placing by much. I tend to think Maguire is a bit whip happy norrmally so he really does cop it with this.
 
Total and utter nonsense! I do feel for the jocks as they no longer have half an idea where they stand. They beat a horse to the line they get banned, they back off and look after a no-hoper to get him home safe and they get banned!

A lot of stewards have experience of race riding. It's the Welsh National saga all over again - people who don't have a clue punishing the people that risk their lives to keep the sport alive!
 
I only saw this once, and what I saw was a tired horse being held together, ridden in balance, and thus sympathetically to the line, if he had pushed on hard the horse would have been exhausted, is that what "the punter " wants, its not what I want. In fact I don't give a damn what the punter wants, he can put his money on virtual races if he wants to avoid controversial results.
 
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Only in racing, and it would seem only in this country, can the governing body take someone's livelihood away, albeit temporarily in this case, without having to prove beyond reasonable doubt. Which is what you would have to do in a court of law. It's just one persons view against another. And of course yet more inconsistency from the hopeless rabble that are the BHA. Graham Cunningham was dead right when he said the BHA had better start employing themselves some good lawyers
 
The Japanese are even more squewiff than the BHA! Christophe Lemaire has been banned for 30 days for using Twitter in the weighing room! :D :D :D

http://www.racingpost.com/news/horse-racing/christophe-patrice-lemaire-japan-lemaire-gets-one-month-ban-for-using-twitter/1830125/latest/#newsArchiveTabs=last7DaysNews
 
I think it's an awful decision as well. When you watch the whole race it wasn't the easiest ride and think Jason did well to get him home. From an owner's point of view I'd far rather than (when it was clear he wasn't going to run on into any prize money) he beat it and risk accident/injury from a tired fall or even from a mental welfare point of sickening the horse. They only have one pair of legs and I'd rather they were saved for another day!
Agree you can't have people going out schooling as that's not fair on the punters either but you have to take that finish in context with the rest of the race. As has been said previously they have a duty of care to the horses.
Sad that we won't see him at Cheltenham especially since he missed last year due to that awful injury.
 
I think the whole thing is a total joke. The horse was clearly being very tricky at the beginning, taking a a strong hold and being generally difficult as anyone could see. The trainer has said he followed his orders, so why on earth the 14 day ban? The horse was clearly tired from pulling early in the race, and he nursed it home safely, what was the point of flogging it? It was never going to win after taking so long to settle. I agree you can't use races as schooling, but taking the race as a whole, it just seems bonkers to me that such a length ban has been put in place.
 
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