The STUPIDEST officiating of all time

[Covid 22]

Ok, we have all seen some really bad officiating in every sport.  But this has to be the worst of all time.

A horse runs and wins the Kentucky Derby.  A full week later he fails a drug test for an approved medication.   The only fallout is taking his name from the winners trophy and records.   But what about the $150+ million bet on this race?   I don't bet on sports but if I did and my horse came in second who the heck cares if they take his name off the trophy, where's my money.   

This is even worse than making a rule that pads have to cover the knee in football.  Wouldn't you think with the millions riding on this they would take a urine sample from every horse prior to the race and as soon as the top three cross the finish line, the test starts running. 

[ilyazhito]

I would honor any bets made on the 2nd place horse, because he is the one who is now the winner because the original winner was disqualified because of drug use. However, I would not require that winnings made by those who bet on the original winner be collected, because that would be unfair.

[dammitbobby]

If you were a bookie you wouldn't, unless you could claw back the money you'd already paid out on the original winning horse, which obviously you can't.  Betting houses are not going to lose out twice for something that is very obviously out of their control.

To Covid22's point, unless the testing is immediate, and a winner isn't officially declared until they pass the whiz quiz, this will always be a possibility.

[Grant - AR]

I don't follow horse racing at all, so excuse me if this is a stupid question.  Does something like this happen very often?  If not, I could see this causing a change to be made similar to what Covid 22 mentioned in the original post. 

[Ralph Damren]

It would seem that a payoff to bettors would not be made if the finish was under review until a decision was reached. I believe that something similar occurred a few years ago ,in a major race, where a horse was found to bump/get in the way of another horse. IMHO, once the payout had been made it would be nearly impossible to retrieve . In sports I know more of, I recall "deflategate" by Brady, Astros & Red Sox stealing signs by Cora & company. The guilty parties were punished but the bettors were not. In today's world of disclaimers on everything, I wouldn't be surprised if ,in small print, there was wordage covering situations like this on betting tickets.

On a personal note, my sole experience to horse racing was once a year my wife and I would go to the local race track and play the trotters. We would each start with $20 and once that was gone ,we would go home. I had a long-winded formula for picking the "winner" while my wife would just bet on the last horse she saw poop. I usually ran out of $ before she did .
A nearby casino was opened several years ago and we quickly found a new way to lose our money !

 

[Ralph Damren]

This topic prompted me to pull from my bookshelf a book :
                             THE WORST CALL EVER!
                             By Kyle Garlett
                             HarperCollins Publishers
                             Copyright 2007
This was a gag-gift given to me at a coaches clinic several years ago  . I was asked if I would like to add a chapter  ; I responded: "Only if I could add several more chapters about bad moves that you guys have made  !" They jokingly agreed that they make more bad moves than we make bad calls, but they "remind    " us of ours on the spot. Reading the book led me to feel the worst call - in my heart -- was the USA-USSR Olympic basketball game in 1972. I believe that Ref. Mag had a rebuttal a few years ago stating that it was handled correctly -STILL A BAD CALL ,TO ME, I WAS A TEAM USA FAN  .  Bad plays by players or bad moves by coaches do not seem to  get nearly as much press as bad calls by officials. leading me to remember the ole' slogan :

[/OFFICIALS MUST BE PERFECT AND CONTINUE TO APPROVE

              b]

[jonesluci]

This isn't good. I've been to horse races several times with my wife. I know that there is a peculiarity in horse racing that young horses compete in the early races. And among them I have a couple of favorites, which often justify the expectations of the bookmakers at 12Bet. The odds on the victory of these horses usually start from 2.00 and above. My friend advised me to choose a race where there is no clear favorite, and the odds of success for such horses spring from the values close to 4.00. The main thing is to take three to five horses with high chances of winning, but not the leading competitor.

[Ralph Damren]

Welcome, jonesluci, to our forum. I hope you'll find it both interesting and informative. While I know very little about horseracing, I do know that I wouldn't want to be a jockey  . My wife and I used to go to trotters once a year. I had this long-winded formula, dealing with their times/place/etc ;while my wife bet on the last horse to poop  .

[dammitbobby]

Timely news today for this thread:  the horse in question that won this year's Derby, and failed the drug test a week later, died today on a track in California.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/06/sport/medina-spirit-death-horse-racing-spt-intl/index.html

[Ralph Damren]

Timely news today for this thread:  the horse in question that won this year's Derby, and failed the drug test a week later, died today on a track in California.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/06/sport/medina-spirit-death-horse-racing-spt-intl/index.html

PARENT TO CHILD...

MARE TO PONY....
                 DON'T DO DRUGS !!       

[yarnnelg]

And a month ago....Mystic drops dead from a heart attack.

Don't do drugs ....