When will buzzer allegations cease?

[PatCummings]

Submitted a letter to the editor of the TDN, published in their Sunday edition. When will it stop? How can it stop?

http://www.dubairacenight.com/letter...ll-a-question/

We all know about the videos from PETA, the jocularity about buzzers (electrical devices used to shock mounts), the edited discussions with theories suggesting possible mistreatment of horses.

These revelations have led to all sorts of ancillary chatter about incidents or controversies in the past – and all sorts of videos and allegations surfaced, or resurfaced, last week. The 1995 Kentucky Derby was discussed when Gary Stevens and Pat Day shared pleasantries in the gallop-out. The chatter about Sole Power in the winner’s enclosure at Royal Ascot hit the presses, and is now under investigation by the British Horseracing Authority. Calvin Borel’s ride on Super Saver in the 2010 Kentucky Derby was mentioned by the New York Times as a suspect ride with a potential machine used, and maybe more.

Within seconds of the Dubai World Cup finishing, I received tweets claiming a device was exchanged when Silvestre DeSousa was congratulated by Mickael Barzalona on the gallop-out. Was there anything?

Does it matter if the answer is “no” when people want to believe there was, regardless? Allegations such as these are now viral.

The problem is that everyone is deemed guilty without respect to proof, yielding a status quo that is an automatic no-win gambit.

What could be absolute congratulations becomes absolute guilt. Did Stevens hand a device to Pat Day in 1995? Was Borel shocking his mount in 2010? Were DeSousa and Barzalona exchanging anything more than a fist-bump, or a high-five? There is nothing more than grainy video of what appears to be a post-race handoff of some kind, of what could be anything, from the King’s Stand.

If participants in the game are deemed guilty within seconds by tweeters – assumed as judge, jury, and executioner in a court of one with a keyboard and a wifi connection – why do we keep supplying reasons to think bad of the game? These people care about the sport to be watching the races in the first place, yet jump to suggestive conclusions at the first sign, or ghost, of impropriety. Perception has become a near-impossibly proven reality.

Racing associations must act. Jockeys cannot greet connections in the parade ring, they cannot shake hands. Jockeys cannot touch each other, or anyone, until they weigh-out. One registered person (a trainer or licensed assistant) can assist with undoing the tack (pre-race saddling is relatively a nonissue as done outside the presence of the jockey). Assistant starters/stall handlers should wear numbers to identify them to officials (as is done in Malaysia, for example). Lead ponies and outriders must be scrutinized.

The stewarding of the race must be expanded to the stewarding of the actions of on-track participants on race day. Metal detectors leaving the weighing room, perhaps?

There is plenty of time for collective celebrations after the raceday: the cocking of a whip, punching the air, the windmill salute – none will eliminate the post-race character of a sensational performance. The public deserves a complete focus on integrity, and the horsepeople deserve it as well. At this point, everyone in the game is considered guilty of pretty much everything at the raising of a question pointed in one’s direction.

As an industry, we invite all of this with absurdly lackadaisical standards, a statement that even applies to the jurisdictions believed to be hardliners.

If we do not have integrity to the utmost we will have the utmost of nothing.