ONE event stands head and shoulders above all others as the most important happening of the week. Indeed, given the reaction from a representative cross-section of the territory's racefans, from the very biggest and most successful punters in the world to the guy who has his fun bets twice a week, it was one of the most significant events for many seasons. Arc de Triomphe and French Derby-winning jockey Gerald Mosse's replacement of battling local rider Johnny Ho on My Prince, the eventual short-head winner of Wednesday night's opening race on the equitrack, is the issue in question. Apart from Mosse's brilliant last-gasp defeat of Family Of Wah Yuen in this event, the significance of Mosse on My Prince is no more clearly underlined than from the tote board itself. For instance this is how the quinella pool changed with respect to My Prince over the final 32 minutes of betting. TABLE GOES HERE The quinella pools make for interesting reading. Clearly My Prince has shortened in every single quinella. Now, no one is suggesting there is anything untoward in this whatsoever. However, the degree of adjustment in the odds does indicate that the race-meeting stewards that permitted this jockey change are in a minority of one if they believe Mosse is of a similar standard to Ho. The overall shortening in My Prince's odds in the quinella pool shows incontrovertibly that the territory's committed two million racefans believe, quite rightly, that Mosse is far superior to Ho. Indeed, I can reveal the territory's most sophisticated computer betting system which allows for detailed analysis of each jockey's record, shows that for a standard ride Mosse has twice as much chance of winning as Ho. But what is illuminating about the quinella pool, more than anything, is how the odds of the quinellas with My Prince and the main form chances, Irene's Pet, Family Of Wah Yuen, Horse Supreme and Global King - the last named especially - shortened in the last minutes of betting. This indicates a few big players, over and above a general public adjustment to the news of Mosse, took advantage of the jockey change. Again, there is nothing necessarily untoward in this. It could just reflect that there are a few serious punters, working by themselves, who were more equipped to deal with the change of riders than the general public. That some committed punters were prepared to launch into My Prince late on is supported by further evidence from the betting pools. From shortly after 7.25 pm until the off time of 7.32 pm, it can be ascertained with a confident degree of accuracy that there were around 19 bets struck to win about $1 million or more in either the win or the quinella pool. What is fascinating is that 11 of them involved My Prince. They were: 7.26 pm: $26,000 My Prince-Global King quinella to collect $1.2 million. 7.29: $105,000 My Prince-Global King quinella to collect $3.7 million. 7.29: $49,000 My Prince-Family Of Wah Yuen quinella to collect $1.5 million. 7.29: $52,000 My Prince-Horse Supreme quinella to collect $2 million. 7.29: $52,000 My Prince-Global King quinella to collect $1.7 million. 7.29: $53,000 My Prince-Irene's Pet quinella to collect $2.9 million. 7.29: $43,000 My Prince-Global King quinella to collect $1.4 million. 7.30: $31,000 My Prince-Family Of Wah Yuen quinella to collect $0.9 million. 7.30: $71,000 My Prince-Global King quinella to collect $2.1 million. 7.31: $44,000 My Prince-Global King quinella to collect $1.2 million. 7.32: $54,000 My Prince-Horse Supreme quinella to collect $1.9 million. For the record, the other lumpy bets placed during this period were. 7.29: $95,000 Irene's Pet-Global King quinella to collect $1.6 million. 7.29: $118,000 Family Of Wah Yuen-Global King quinella to collect $0.9 million. 7.29: $90,000 Horse Supreme-Global King quinella to collect $0.9 million. 7.29: $243,000 Family Of Wah Yuen-Chief Commander quinella to collect $1.9 million. 7.29: $126,000 Family Of Wah Yuen-Horse Supreme quinella to collect $0.9 million. 7.29: $19,000 Lucky Winner-Global King quinella to collect $1.3 million. 7.29: $277,000 Family Of Wah Yuen to win in order to collect $0.9 million. 7.29: $19,000 Malayan Treasure-Global King quinella to collect $1.6 million. Once again, it has to be stressed, and stressed very clearly, there is nothing necessarily wrong in this betting pattern concerning My Prince in particular or the race as a whole. Before the jockey change there looked to be only four hopes, Irene's Pet, Family Of Wah Yuen, Horse Supreme and Global King. The late change of jockey from Ho to Mosse meant My Prince had to be given much more consideration. And there are big players out there whose betting models would be heavily influenced by Mosse replacing Ho to such an extent that a horse's chance in a race could double. When there is virtually no adjustment in the public price to such a jockey change, then the Mosse horse becomes extremely good value and it is only normal to exploit that value with the main form chances through the quinella pool. This is indeed what appears to have happened. But the betting figures are reproduced to show the problems the race-meeting stewards invite when they allow such an extraordinary jockey change and to offer evidence of why it must never be allowed to occur again. For while big players are able to take advantage, the mass of the general public, betting off-course, or those who have already placed their bets, are in no position to react. The powers that be are now putting their hands up and realising they must do more to look after punters. After all, it is this group that finances the whole shooting match. This is a very welcome if belated step as earlier in the season the same mistake was made when Club Jockey, Peter Hutchinson, five times a Group One-winner, was allowed to replace three-pound claimer Victor C. F. Chan on Colours Hero who duly obliged. Two riding changes of qualitative significance, two big-priced winners and a chorus of criticism that racing could do without. At least it is now known it will never be repeated. But let's have an immediate and definitive policy statement from the Racing Department to show that action speaks louder than words.
