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Welcome to the News desk. |
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Slow justice for Dave Smith, Kempton judge who played fast and
loose |
14/07/2013 |
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Greg Wood |
Racing's bad news
travels quickly but BHA took five days to put matters right after Kempton
'dead-heat'
The first thing
that should be said about Dave Smith, who was relieved of his duties as a
racecourse judge last week after 13 years in the job, is that at least 99% of
the time, he was good at his job. The second is that in a position with the
power to shift six- or even seven-figure sums from one pocket to another, even
a 0.5% failure rate is unacceptable.
It took Smith 50 seconds to
determine and then declare the result in a seven-furlong maiden at Kempton Park
on 26 June, which went to a photo-finish between Extra Noble, the even-money
favourite, and Fire Fighting, a 16-1 chance.
By Smith's well-established quick-fire standards,
50 seconds was nothing new, almost dragging his heels in fact. In this
instance, though, the "result" was that the pair could not be separated. "That
was very quick for a dead-heat," observed one of Racing UK's studio pundits as
this was announced. "That was very quick," his colleague agreed. "Dave Smith's
on tonight, isn't he?"
Five days
later, the British Horseracing Authority announced that, having contacted Smith
and asked him to reconsider, he had decided that in fact, Extra Noble had held
on to first place by a nose. This was five days too late for favourite-backers
who had already been paid out or short-changed, to be more precise
on the original decision.
We all make mistakes, journalists
included, so it may seem unfair to criticise Smith too harshly for doing the
same. I've made some toe-curlers over the last 20-odd years, most of which,
thanks either to a good subeditor or an alert lawyer, have failed to make it
into print.
Smith did not have an equivalent safety net. But he did
have more than 50 seconds to make a decision. No one would have cared if it had
taken three or four minutes to announce the result, had it been the right one.
Smith, though, always seemed to see it as a matter of honour that he could
announce the result of a close finish sometimes without even calling for
a photo faster than any judge in the business.
It is a little
like pushing all-in at every possible opportunity in a game of poker: a tactic
that works just fine, until it doesn't. The modern technology available to
judges is impressive, and makes the job easier, and generally quicker, than in
the past, which in turn helps to keep money turning over in the shops. But in a
very tight finish it will never be sufficiently easy, or swift, to justify a
50-second turnaround for a dead-heat, even if it proves to be the correct
decision.
Some bookmakers did pay out on both results, because it was
worth it for the PR value, but others did not. Most of us have had the
miserable experience of backing the "winner" on the wrong side of the track in
a big sprint handicap, but backing an actual winner and still not being paid
out in full is a good deal worse. Nothing annoys a punter more than getting it
right and still feeling robbed.
It took the BHA longer to amend the
result of this Kempton maiden than it did to charge, try and ban Mahmood
al-Zarooni for the dopings at Godolphin in April, but it got there in the end.
The decision to strip Smith of his role as a judge also suggests at least some
appreciation of the anger that punters will have felt about this error.
But since his name came up, it can only be hoped that there will be a
similar understanding of the widespread concern about Zarooni's actions when
the BHA concludes its investigation into the biggest doping scandal in the
sport's history. .
As yet, the authority has not even committed to
publishing its findings in full. It is this case, and not the reaction to a
quickfire judge who shot first once too often, which will determine whether the
BHA can be trusted to look after the integrity of the sport.
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