It's amazing how racing keeps managing to shoot themselves in the foot.
I HATE HATE this automatic refund/non starter rule for broken equipment before the start. I understand it's supposed to protect the gambler but it should be judges discretion on a case-by-case basis. If it's something egregious like broken hobbles or obvious interference before the start and there's no recall and a horse legit gets screwed then absolutely make the horse a non-starter. But honestly did anyone watching the race think Bongiorno didn't get a fair shake because a minor piece of equipment was loose or broken? The horse was driven aggressively, and gave his all. Talk to the driver...was he screaming out to the starter about broken equipment and he needs a recall? What if the driver says he didn't even notice any broken equipment and it didn't affect the horse at all....j
10 minutes after the race and nobody knows whats happening. Imagine the lucky bettors who are sitting on a very nice exacta or tri and 10 mins later they say sorry, doesn't count, here's your money back. I'm sure those bettors are really enticed to bet the next race, or ever again for that matter. Way more harm than good comes out of this.
Also to clarify. this only affects the wagering...he's considered a non-starter for pari-mutuel purposes only. Nothing else on the chart changes. He still gets second money.
