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Happy Lucky Dragon Win | Are stewards rule enforcers or riding instructors?

On Wednesday the stewards’ focus fell on the riding of Gerald Mosse: he was fined heavily for dropping his hands on a beaten runner, but before that, he received a severe reprimand for being stuck three-deep, no cover on a favourite.

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It was a tough night at Happy Valley on Wednesday night for Gerald Mosse. Photos: Kenneth Chan

On Wednesday the stewards’ focus fell on the riding of Gerald Mosse: he was fined heavily for dropping his hands on a beaten runner, but before that he received a severe reprimand for being stuck three-deep, no cover on a favourite. But where is the line between rule enforcer and riding instructor for stipes?

Firstly, stewards’ directives are clear and the punishment severe for dropping hands – that is, not riding a horse right to the line – as Tommy Berry found out earlier this season after copping a suspension on Smart Man. This is a tight-handicapped environment with massive betting turnover, where winning margins matter more than anywhere in the world, right down to 14th and last place.
Mosse is a repeat offender at the “lacking vigour over the concluding stages” caper and, as such, he was fined HK$30,000 on Wednesday night for not testing Straight Gold right to the line in the last. The quintessential “mercurial Frenchman”, we’ve written about Mosse’s indifference to flogging a beaten horse in non-Group races before. There’s nothing malicious about it.
The jockey of every horse should take all reasonable and permissible measures throughout the race to ensure that his horse is given a full opportunity to win or obtain the best possible placing in the field
Rule 99 (2) of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Rules of Racing and Instructions

And there probably would have been HK$30,000 in the ashtray of Mosse’s Bentley that would have taken care of the fine, but what there might be more issue with is the instructive feedback from stewards given to Mosse and Keith Yeung Ming-lun earlier in the night.

Mosse was caught in what some feel is an all-too-familiar position on Ho In One – three-deep with no cover from gate five. The Hong Kong Jockey Club Rules of Racing and Instructions is particularly good night-time reading – or maybe effective is a better word, in that it puts you straight to sleep. But if you can get up to Rule 99 (2) –just after Rule 94 (7) that states that jockeys can’t carry any substitute for a whip in a race (what, no sword or baseball bat?) – you find an interesting and more often used stipulation.

Rule 99 (2) states: “The jockey of every horse should take all reasonable and permissible measures throughout the race to ensure that his horse is given a full opportunity to win or obtain the best possible placing in the field.”

It’s a rule that is open to interpretations as there are plenty of “bad” rides at racecourses every day – and there were plenty of punters cursing Mosse’s Chinese name when he got posted and finished 10th as 3.1 favourite.

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