why does Irish racing even bother with stewards and starters?

Time and time again in Ireland, horses are allowed to start after breaking the gates and running a lap of the course (and then being so worked up that they have zero chance of winning the race). Their other massive blunder is starting the race when a horse is playing up in the gates. In the 6:50 tonight at Roscommon, The Silver Crown was unruly in the barriers, and was obvious for all to see. Barrier attendants went to the horse, the jockey was off the horse and needed time to get back onto the horse and into the irons. The moron who is paid to start the race pressed the button to open the gates before the jockey had even got his feet back in the irons. He was no more than 10m away from the horse in question, no excuse for not seeing it, and punters have been robbed blind as the horse is declared a starter despite having been denied a fair start. The horse jumped slowly and then the jockey jumped off after three strides because his feet weren't in the irons, a very dangerous situation for a rider.

You can view the replay here on the AtTheRaces site, free membership required.

It's brainless actions like this which rob punters blind with no apology from Horse Racing Ireland that make you wonder how they can justify asking bookmakers to pay more to funds Irish racing. It certainly isn't going to encourage punters to bet on racing in Ireland when they get shafted like this.

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