Mike Dillon: Time for controversial cutaway to be banned

Cutaway rails should be banned from racing.

We thought we saw the end of them when Ellerslie finally did away with theirs in the 1980s.

But a decade ago the Levin Racing Club introduced one for its two big meetings of the year at Otaki and it nearly had disastrous consequences in Thursday's $200,000 Ford Levin Classic when it came close to costing Ambitious Owner his win.

Winning rider Leith Innes has heavily criticised the cutaway rail for the way it made Ambitious Owner race erratically in the home straight and mentioned his disappointment to Levin club president John Benton.

A cutaway rail is not to be confused with a false rail, which is essentially a movable seamless rail, generally used to protect a certain part of the track from use.

Cutaway rails leave a wide space on the inside when they cut back to the natural rail early in the home straight and are designed to allow back runners a better chance of securing a clear passage in the final stages of a race.

"They're a pain in the arse," said Chris McNab, a master tactical jockey before his retirement who these days trains stars like St Reims and Danbird.

The late Gordon McVeigh was probably New Zealand's finest racecourse curator and was a big influence in introducing the cutaway rail to Ellerslie for most major racedays in the late 1970s.

He always argued it gave every horse an equal chance.

But

what about when a talented jockey, like a Chris McNab, rides a hugely intelligent race in front, stacking the field up behind him in an Auckland Cup to sprint at the appropriate time in the closing stages, hopefully holding on because of his clever tactics?

That jockey should be entitled to make capital of that ability.

With a false rail, that advantage is eliminated when the leader is suddenly left out in the middle of the track as the rail cuts away and horses come charging at it from both sides.

Worse, horses suddenly leaving a rail will wander because they are conditioned to follow a rail and within an instant it has gone.

In successive Auckland Cups and many other major Ellerslie races, we saw instances of horses from back in the field denied a clear passage ahead because the horses in front were wandering without a rail to follow. Interference was rife, the reason the rail was eventually scrapped.

A classic example of leaders being disadvantaged and back runners getting the breaks was Chimbu's near-last-to-first 1982 Auckland Cup victory. Difficult to argue he would have won without the cutaway rail.

It makes good riders out of bad ones and eliminates the need for lesser jockeys to improve their thinking.

Instead of jockeys having to think their way out of a tight spot, they wait for the cutaway rail.

Instead of making their runs at the appropriate time for their horse, it's made when the cutaway appears.

Every rider pounces at once, which causes its own problems.

Innes said Ambitious Owner wandered off his natural line at the end of the cutaway rail then edged back in during the run to the winning post.

"It throws them out wide, then, because of their natural instinct to go back to a rail, they duck in. No wonder there is interference."

Ambitious Owner ran across the line of Eloa, Magnetism and Huddy in the closing stages. A protest was heard, but it was deemed he did not affect one of those horses obtaining a closer finishing position. It could have been a close call.

"They are an absolute disaster for front runners," McNab says of the cutaway.

"During their time at Ellerslie, Ebony Belle is the horse I can remember winning a big race after leading around the home turn.

"The back runners get too much of a crack at you. It also slows the tempo of a race down too much because riders sit and wait for the cutaway."

John Benton said his club would review the use of the cutaway.

"We haven't had too much criticism. People mention it from time to time, but Leith's criticism is the first official attack on it we've had in a while. We'll be discussing it."

The Levin club uses the cutaway only for its two big racedays.

But if it is deemed to be good for those days, why not for the others?

Because it causes too many problems.