Oakland Racing Club facing criticism regarding injuries of horses and jockeys
The Oakland Racing Club has come under a lot of criticism in the past and just recently, it was made subject to accusations again.
What has stirred these accusatory comments regarding the Club is the incident in which Tom Logan, a jockey was toppled off his horse after he came upon an irregularity in the track.
Despite the fact that the consequences of the fall could have been disastrous for both the jockey and the horse he was riding, the president of the club, John Glatz is not giving it much thought. Glatz is taking an evasive tone on the subject and dismissing
the whole incident by categorizing it as exaggeration.
“Nothing fell today,” Mr Glatz said after the race in which the incident happened was completed. “The stewards would have put it down as ‘lost order’, that’s all. The horse kept going and jumped another four jumps. He actually won the trial without the rider.”
Regardless of the fact that the outcome of the race was positive for the horse, Pay the Aces, the credit does not go to the racetrack. The matter of concern over here is that the incident could have resulted in serious physical damage to the jockey.
Not only that, had the horse not managed to stabilize itself, it could have caused serious injuries to the horse as well. Therefore, both the security of the jockey as well as the horse was at stake.
Where Pay The Aces has had lady luck on its side, some of the other horse have not fared so well in the past. Hammerblow is a horse that was put to death during trial run of the jumps race. This trial was taking place at Morphettvile. It has not been more
than a week that this tragic incident took place.
If the reel is rewinded another week back, than the death of Casa Boy, a veteran galloper comes to light. The sad incident took place at a Warrnambool in Victoria and the race being run at that time was a jumps start one.
These are not the only deaths related with Oakland but the past years are dotted with many such deaths. It is time that Oakland takes responsibility of the matter.
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