Us against them! or team riding!?

Question

this doesnt happen in australia (where im from) but i have noticed of late the influx in team riding in europe, particuly england and ireland.

were a given stable (not nameing names) will enter several horses for a race, were they all seem to have a role notibly a pacemaker which sets the race up for a stablemate!

2 examples of this are the queen anne stakes were (haradasun won the race but no thanks to a pace maker which comes from the same stable)

and over night there was a race in ireland were the stable had several enterents including a pace maker and the overall winner, then after the race when the winner was led back in to the mounting yard all the stable jockets come running up to congradulate the winner, which seemed rather odd, as i have never seen that before!

so i ask are there team tactics at work here?

and should this be allowed?

i also want to make mention of the july cup, raced overnight in south africa, what a finish! a dead heat for 1st!

Answer 1

It is not uncommon for the owner of a come from behind horse to enter a second horse, a pace maker in the same race.  The pace maker, often called a 'rabbit' is there to create a fast pace, not to win, so that the other horse can rally from the back of the pack and win.  Team tactics...?  Yup.  As to the other phenomena you mentioned, I've never seen more than two horses from the same owner in a race so I can't speak to what that might be, but the words 'race fixing' might jump to mind, but if the stewards saw no problem with it then I guess everything was kosher, maybe all the jockeys you saw were just really good sports.

Answer 2

Yea the same owner might have a plan do do so

But what about the rest of the field?? they do not play by their rules so no matter what that owner wants his 2 horse's to do in a race

He still has the others to contend with ??

have you thought of it that way !!!