Pyro Derby Incident - what could the implications be?

Question

http://www.bloodhorse.com/article/45760.htm

OK, had read before about the issue with Pyro and the Assistant Starter who was hired by Churchill Downs and his ties to Pyro.

And today Churchill Downs paid a $15,000 Administrative Penalty due to this incident.

Can the experts here tell me what the implications could be by having someone there who has ties to the specific horse? They stated that there "was no evidence of inappropriate behavior"...but what - if anything - COULD they do in that position?

NOT SAYING IT HAPPENED HERE...but why is this an issue? What COULD someone do in that position??

Hope this makes sense!

Answer 1

The Pyro issue that has come to the surface now evidently raises questions over the impartiality of the person's treatment of the horse(s) while in and leaving the gate.

I wanted to say to you yesterday that Curlin's performance was spectacular, that a race featuring both him and Big Brown would certainly cause excitement, and that I am now 80 cents richer since I bet on Curlin to win lol.  That wasn't exactly how I said it, but I don't know if you read my answer, because shortly after I input it, the whole question disappeared.  That's too bad.  There were several other interesting answers as well.  I guess we have troublemakers in our midst.

Answer 2

The assistant starters really control the start of the race.  It's their job to make sure that their horse is paying attention and ready for the break.  The horse should have its head up looking out of the starting gate, straight ahead.  All four feet should be planted squarely on the ground.  The starter holds the bridle until the gates open.  Since those people are right there in the gate at the start of the race, they do have a lot of control.  The gates are supposed to open after all the horses are ready... but not all the horses are going to be standing perfectly squarely and staring straight ahead at the same time.  There's always going to be horses who aren't paying attention and they break worse than the rest... that's just part of horse racing.  However, there's a serious problem when one of the starters denies the horse the opportunity of breaking.  I saw a race where the guy was standing on the ledge beside the horse and he lost his balance and he didn't let the horse go when he needed to and fell on the horse and the horse didn't get to leave the gate with the other horses.  That horse was declared a non-starter because it didn't have a fair opportunity to break.  If you lose 10 lengths at the break, you've pretty much lost the race... you rarely see a horse recover from that.  that's why it's important.

What specifically could this guy have done about the start of the Derby?  He might have yelled for the gates to open when a horse next to him was visibly not ready.  He could have actually grabbed onto a horse next to him to stop if from breaking.  He could have yelled and caused a ruckus to spook the horses beside him so that they reared in the gate or something like that.  He could have done something to Pyro to force him to break faster... he could have whipped him when the gate opened or used a zapper or something (like electric fence or something like that) to force Pyro to run madly away from the gate.  He could have used the same thing on a horse near him while the horses stood in the gate so that the horses near him got upset.  Being so near to the horses, you have a lot of control over how that race goes.  Every move you make is very important, especially in a major race like that.

I can't believe people keep getting your questions removed.  I don't see anything that you're doing wrong.  Be careful not to respond too much in your question though so those people can't accuse you of "chat."  Like make sure you don't respond to me since they're out to get us.