Racing: Stipes promise at least a fine for riders who slow the pace

Watch out any jockey who gets the lead and packs a field up over the next few months - a fine or suspension is guaranteed.

After Saturday's abortive stock car-like $100,000 Sir Tristram Classic, stipendiary stewards' tolerance of jockeys creating unnecessary danger by slowing fields down to ridiculous levels is zero.

That no runner fell during the group-two Classic at Te Rapa on Saturday is a miracle.

From the winning post to the beginning of the back straight, the field slowed to little more than three-quarter pace. The result was shuffling with such volatility that senior riders were white with shock.

"That was dangerous," said Noel Harris, who won the race on Tusker.

"Crap," was how Hayden Tinsley described it.

Former stipe Ginger Tankard said it was the roughest race he'd seen in years.

"It was bullshit. If one horse had fallen they'd have all gone."

The problem began when Mark Hills went around the leader on Axis on the bend out of the straight with a round to travel. The tempo, already pedestrian, appeared to slow even further, although Hills denied that.

Lisa Cropp, three places back on the rails on Myladys, was immediately in trouble when her mount tried to climb over the heels of Bible Class, the horse that had yielded the lead to Axis.

As Cropp angled her horse out of trouble a chain reaction back through the field eventuated, with Tusker and Leith Innes on Sahara Flight flushing out wide to avoid clipping heels.

Half the field was so badly affected that many were travelling sideways for a number of strides and eventual runner-up Authoress was so badly galloped on she returned with a gaping wound just above the fetlock on her off-side hind leg.

The net effect was that a number of riders were forced into tactics that did not suit their horse, but meant lessening the danger. Finishing down the track was a better option than lying on it.

Stipendiary stewards faced a massive problem. They had to act. They gave warnings to all those in the jockeys' room after Race 2, which was ridiculously slow - the time of 1.40.54 for the 1600m was more appropriate to mid-winter racing.

The message from chief stipendiary steward Noel McCutcheon and assistant Alan Coles was, "Don't pack fields up to the point it creates danger for those behind".

It had appeared Hills would be charged for the Sir Tristram Classic incident, but he was not in the room after Race 2. Stewards instead gave him a warning.

There is no question that a big part of the problem is many of the younger riders are unable to judge pace to the same degree as the likes of Harris, Coleman, Innes and Tinsley.

Australia has been clamping down, charging jockeys with careless riding, a rule which seems slightly inappropriate but is applied for the want of a better rule.

McCutcheon said that when he attended a stipendiary conference in Australia last year the Australians were looking at framing a specific rule. It would be good if we followed.

Stewards said they would have charged Hills with careless riding had he been part of the original warning, a stance Hills was not entirely comfortable with.

Being able to judge pace was one of the first lessons jockeys of earlier decades learned.

Norm Holland, still involved on raceday, rode against the best in his high profile career in the saddle.

"You had it drilled into you. The likes of Bill Broughton and Grenville Hughes were outstanding at it," said Holland at Te Rapa.

"And more recently David Peake and Bruce Compton had it drilled into them by [trainer] George Cameron. They were good."

Tinsley believes it is probably the single most important talent a jockey can possess.

"The best judge of pace will win a race. If you can do it well, you have half the field beaten before you go out. Half the jockeys out there can't do it well."