When all goes well in horseracing it is a sport without peer. When it goes wrong it is frustrating, not a human condition that many owners, trainers and or officials, for that matter, can handle without a grimace and expletive.

Scottsville patrons were treated to both yesterday as the first race resulted in a punter’s refund while Heartland realised some of his potential in the meeting’s headliner.

It was drama in the first as Muzi Yeni was left standing in the pens when the gates sprung leaving the heavily backed Hour Glass riderless and Duncan Howells cursing. Alongside Hour Glass, Anton Marcus was quick to pull up on the favourite Pep Squad who was also being difficult in the stalls but heeding a shout of ‘false start’ by the starter. The balance of the field bolted for home.

In subsequent reports to the Stipendiary Stewards, Marcus and Yeni both admitted to hearing starter Paul Hepworth call a false start while the other riders appeared oblivious to the call and continued with the race.

Further investigation showed that the assistant starter had not raised his “all clear” flag to indicate that all was in order behind the gate as both Hour Glass and Pep Squad had not settled and in fact Yeni had removed his feet from the irons and was calling for the starter to wait.

Hepworth reported that he had not effected the start as he was waiting for the “all clear” flag and was also aware of the two horses playing up in the gate.

However, the ‘starting stalls opened prematurely and by themselves’ according to the preliminary Stipes report and the sudden opening of the gates did not give Hepworth time to sound the ‘false start’ siren. However, he did shout the instruction heard by both Marcus and Yeni.

In terms of Rule 61.5.13.1, chief stipendiary steward Shaun Parker had no option but to declare the race null and void and all bets were refunded.

There was a happier ending for Justin Snaith as Heartland, a full brother to champion Jackson, finally got his act together but apparently and frustratingly, too late to follow the plan originally mapped out for him.

Flopping first time out as a gelding late last month, Heartland had everything in his favour in the Daniels Flooring Allowance Plate and in spite of tugging his way to the start in the preliminaries he did the deed as was expected of him, winning comfortably from Beat The Retreat and pacemaker Budapest.

Snaith said of Heartland, “He’s always been a very smart horse and we just always hoped that we could get him into the right races. He could be a horse next year for the Queen’s Plate but I’ve got a bit of work to do.

“We gelded him two weeks before I came to Durban and it just set him back and the other night we were actually quite confident but the 61-and-a-half, first run back from gelding and night racing he just wasn’t too sure what was happening. You can put a line through that.

“He came back blowing heavily and I knew what I needed to do.

“We wanted to go for a few features here but we sort of missed them,” Snaith concluded ruefully.

As Damon Runyon so famously wrote; “Well – that’s horseracing.”

By Andrew Harrison