A Victorian trainer said punters were let down by a decision to force her to run the race favourite despite knowing her runner wouldn’t handle the quickly deteriorating track.
Torrential rain at Sale last week saw the meeting eventually abandoned – but not before the track was gradually downgraded from a Good 4 to a Soft 7.
After another huge shower of rain, Rachael Frost said she knew her mount Mislead was not going to run well because the track was so heavy – despite being race favourite.
Frost says a decision by stewards not to allow her to scratch the horse at Sale on Sunday wasn’t made in the best interests of punters.
The Pakenham trainer’s stable star Mislead finished unplaced as the well-backed $5 favourite shortly before the entire race meeting was called off.
The 1106m BM62 handicap was run in torrential rain, with stewards abandoning the remaining three races due to surface water and visibility concerns after 25mm of rain fell during the afternoon.
The track started on a Good 4 for Race 1 before receiving consecutive downgrades after Race 2, Race 3 and Race 4.
Frost was comfortable to run the mare on a soft track but, after another heavy downpour following Race 4, decided it was in the mare’s best interests to scratch and instead run first-up at Mornington on Tuesday.
Mislead had never won in six previous runs on rain-affected going.
Frost said she called Dion Villela, the steward in charge of the race meeting, from the tie-up stalls when horses were summoned into the mounting yard for Race 5 to request that Mislead be withdrawn but was told that it was too close to the race for the request to be granted.
“I was pretty dirty about it,” Frost said.
“When they downgraded the track to the Soft 7 (after R4), it was still only drizzling.”
“I was happy to run on a soft track but I didn’t want to run on a heavy track.”
“Not long after that, the rain became torrential, it was absolutely pissing down so there was no way it was still going to be a Soft 7 out there.”
“I had saddled the horse but I actually didn’t think they would go out in that (rain).”
“Sure enough, they called us up (to the mounting yard) and that’s when I said I didn’t want to run because the track was going to be too heavy.”
“I was happy to take the fine, I didn’t care, but I knew it wasn’t a soft track anymore and I didn’t want to run my horse.”
“I rang them (stewards) and asked to scratch and they said they would talk about it and get back to me.”
“Dion (Villela) rang me back pretty quickly and said I had to run and when I asked why, he said that it was to protect the punter.”
“I would’ve thought that allowing me to scratch would protect the punter more because at least they get their money back instead of forcing me to run the horse when I know she isn’t going to handle the conditions.”
“I should’ve just unsaddled the horse and walked away.”
Frost said that jockey Emily Pozman reported that Mislead failed to travel or quicken on the deteriorating track.
The mare sustained abrasions to her legs from knocking herself while trying to gain traction in the wet conditions.
Had the mare been a late scratching, punters that backed Mislead would’ve had their stake returned.
“She just jumped and had no chance, she never travelled at all,” she said.
“Her leg is butchered.”
A Racing Victoria spokesperson told Betsy that stewards acted in accordance with LR70(2)(b)(ii), which requires any late scratching due to track downgrades to be made prior to correct weight being declared for the preceding race.
The spokesperson said stewards denied Frost’s request to withdraw the horse based on the fact that she approached the stewards in the horse stalls once all horses were saddled and had commenced to enter the mounting yard prior to the race in which Mislead was engaged.
Whilst a further downgrade from Soft 6 to Soft 7 occurred between Race 4 and Race 5, the RV spokesperson noted that there were several earlier opportunities for Frost to scratch the horse when the track was downgraded to a Soft 5 after Race 1 and a Soft 6 after Race 3.
