photo finish protest
October 9th 2008 08:43
The Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe was a triumph for French racing. Zarkava now widely regarded as the greatest filly for generations. At present there is much discussion as to whether she will race on as a 4 year old. We can only hope that the Aga Khan delays her retirement to stud by another year.
The race for the placings in the 2008 Arc
(photo: www.racingpost.uk)
"No decision has been made on Zarkava yet and we are going to all sit down and talk this weekend,"
"I cannot point you in one way or the other as it really is right down the middle at the moment, so we will just have to see.
"I think by the end of the weekend, there will be some kind of release and everyone will know what is planned." - Georges Rimaud, racing manager for the Aga Khan.
But as wonderful as it was was French racing to produce such a superstar of the turf for the world to admire on their greatest day of racing - it has been the shambles of the rest of the Arc racemeeting that continues to cast a poor light over the day.
The Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp was a farce with false start and rerun and haphazard communication with the public. And even now the stewards placings in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe are to be challenged by one of the part-owners of joint-third placed Gino Lad (dead-heating with Soldier Of Fortune).
Part-owner Tonya Rogge describes her reason to protest as “a matter of correctness.” The connections of the Pavel Vovcenko trained 5 year old are adamant that the 150/1 outsider, It’s Gino, held a margin over Aidan O’Brien’s Soldier Of Fortune. They closely analysed the photo-finish in the aftermath of the race and are certain that they will be vindicated on a proper inspection. On the day of the race the result for third took an imponderable time before declaration. The stewards were hampered in their decision by a photo-finish print that was not clear on detail.
“I am very sorry to have had to pursue this affair after such a big race as the Arc. But I do have the habit of looking at photo-finishes. You cannot see it in the normal picture, but in the mirror image you can see he (It's Gino) has finished third. It is quite clear. We are protesting and have appointed a French lawyer in Paris to represent us.” - Pavel Vovcenko.
France Galop (governing racing body in France) would have used computer images to reach a race day verdict. Despite the views of the connections BHA’s senior judge (Alastair Stewart) said that in his opinion the photo-finish print the connections studied was “not definitive enough” to determine whether It’s Gino was third.
The connections of Hungarian champion sprinter Overdose have confirmed that they too are likely to take legal advice after Overdose won the false start version of the Prix de l”Abbaye. French Galop have not as yet offered them any compensation.
A virtual match race between Prix de l'Abbaye winner Marchand D’Or and Overdose has been created for viewing. The two races are run in parallel.
And the winner (this time) is?:
| 50 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
