GALLOPERS PUNTING EDITORIALS
Danny Nikolic, Guilty or Not Guilty
Yesterday Danny Nikolic was fined $3,000 after pleading guilty to 5 charges made by Victorian Racing Stewards, one of abusing a Stewards, another four for leaving a race course without permission. Nikolic was found not guilty of the more serious charges laid against him of Improper Conduct.
Firstly, all jockeys are fully aware they should not bring mobile telephones onto a race course on which they are riding that day. Jockeys are also very aware they are not allowed to leave a race course during a meeting without express permission of the Stewards. Nikolic knew this and was fined accordingly.
Stewards from Racing Victoria were attempting to have Nikolic basically found guilty of pulling up 10 horses in races from December 2009 through to January 2010. Their only evidence was circumstantial evidence that Nikolic had conversed with friends in regards to these races, and these friends laid some of his mounts to lose on Betfair. These friends also laid some horse to lose that actually won, so not all the information passed on to them were on the money. The judge ruled and rightly so that there was insufficient evidence supplied by Stewards to convict Nikolic of pulling up these horses.
Now, there are two significant issues to come out of this that we have not seen written any where else.
Firstly, we see jockeys interviewed and hear them interviewed every day of the week. And for obvious reasons they are generally very up beat when speaking about the prospective chances of the horses they are riding. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, it is against the rules for jockeys to tip, which they are clearly doing every day of the week without actually saying it is a tip. They are also obliged under the rules of racing not to bring the industry into disrepute, so jockeys being interviewed are hardly going to make any negative comments for fear of being charged under this rule. Jockeys are not going to say things like, "he worked terribly the other day," or "he pulled up sore on the track yesterday" are they? Jockeys are not only trying to be affable to the media who assist their profile, they are also trying to improve their appearance to the general public who listen to their every word.
Nevertheless, what is the difference between jockeys speaking to the media or speaking with a friend to discuss their mounts? What stops jockeys from speaking to anyone about their mounts? Especially considering they all speak to media outlets every day about the exact same thing. The only difference is, when speaking privately, jockeys can actually say things like, "That horse can't win that race". When speaking to the media, jockeys can't say that sort of thing because it immediately implies they are not trying to win on the horse.
On top of this, all jockeys speak to their manager every day about their horses chances and the way the races will be run. And all jockeys are extremely honest and open about their chances of their horses. Gallopers has managed jockeys and some have actually said, "that horses has no hope of winning" to us, purely and simply either because of a wide barrier or the horse just wasn't up to that class of horse he was racing against. Do we ever hear a jockey when speaking to the media honestly say "that horse can't win that race". Of course we don't, never.
For goodness sake, jockeys tip to media outlets every day. What they don't do is make any negative comments to media outlets even they have made a negative comment about a horses chances in private to a friend.
So RV Stewards need to either change this rule, so no jockey can talk to media outlets, or simply continue to allow jockeys to do what they do now, and have been doing for many years past, and that is tipping to the media. Stewards also have to decide whether to allow jockeys to make negative comments.
The second issue here is concerning these negative comments. All Nikolic has done in the instance is state to a friend that a horse will struggle to win this race because it has drawn a wide barrier. What is wrong with that? All Nikolic did was state the truth, and he has no control over what his friend may or may not do with this information. How many horses every day of the week do we see scratched because they drew a double figure barrier. Speak to any trainer, and they will admit they hate their horse begin drawn wide. Why? Because the trainer knows that horses drawn wide barriers have little or no winning chance unless everything goes their way. Many trainers scratch their horse when they draw wide barriers.
Read Gallopers article about barriers being the single most important factor in analysing a race (click here). We give the only three scenarios open to a jockey drawn a wide barrier, and all three give the jockey very little winning hope. And all jockeys Gallopers have spoken to will agree with these three scenarios.
And most trainers won't even pay up for a jockey on acceptance morning until they see the barrier draw for fear of drawing wide. Should they draw okay, then a jockey is paid up for, however should their horse draw wide they don't accept with jockey and the horse is either immediately scratched or scratched on race morning.
Danny Nikolic is guilty of one thing, stupidity, or possibly arrogance. He left race course without the express permission of Stewards, and he has been punished for that. He knew he should not have done it, he knew it was against the rules of racing. Danny Nikolic did nothing else wrong. All he did was speak to friends about the chances of his horses, giving an honest appraisal. We see & hear jockeys tip their horses through media outlets every day of the week with no action taken against them by Stewards. All Nikolic did was do exactly the same thing except from the privacy of his mobile telephone.
Danny is a great jockey, hopefully he can put all this behind him and get back to riding winners. Look at the harsh judges that have entrusted him over the years with regular rides. John Hawkes who simply does not suffer foolish jockeys, Peter Snowden, Lloyd Williams. Seriously, these people would not put Nikolic on if they thought he was going to pull one of theirs up.
Gallopers has no issue whatsoever investing money on anything Danny Nikolic rides, and neither should any one else. Unless of course, they have drawn a double figure barrier.
Gallopers 30.6.10
