Trey’s Two Cents Worth: Officiating needs to improve…

If you regularly read my editorial columns, you likely have realized that I have a good appreciation for harness racing and most sports.

For almost a year now, I have been a co-host of a podcast that discusses news and events in the Canadian Football League. I join my colleagues, Ryan Koop, Mike Gerl and Adam Stuart, on the Canadian Football Countdown to regularly dissect offseason moves, weekly recaps and other football-related topics.

Any gridiron fans are aware of Dwyane “The Rock” Johnson’s XFL trying to make its third attempt at establishing itself as a spring football league in the United States. We on Canadian Football Countdown often discuss things related to the XFL because its success or lack of success directly impacts the Canadian Football League.

The new version of the XFL has brought in new and innovative ideas for day one to try to stand out from the already-established NFL and CFL. One of the exciting moves brought in was complete transparency between the head referee on the field and the command center official during plays under review.

Coach’s challenges and reviewable plays have become a part of the fabric of football regardless of what league you follow. Heck, there isn’t a sport going on these days that does not have video review at its disposal. The head referee or umpire can always be seen putting on a headset with a direct line to the replay official, usually stationed at the league’s head office.

Fans sit patiently, waiting for the verdict to be delivered, and we are usually given a brief explanation of the decision. But the XFL is trying to provide the fans with the ability to see the real-time reasoning behind why the decision is being made. The fans can hear everything the on-field official and the video replay official discuss, eliminating confusion.

All horse racing fans, at one point, have been sitting at the track while the bright red inquiry sign is up and wondering what is going on. But, of course, this happens regularly while watching online in the comfort of your couch.

Sometimes there isn’t even an inquiry sign, and the judges end up making a placement or disqualification, leaving the betting public scratching their heads.

The Santa Anita thoroughbred incident of judges disqualifying a horse because they had watched the wrong race reply is still fresh among horse racing fans. Even though it happened in our sister sport, we sulky lovers still have the same issues in officiating as they do.

A couple of weeks ago at Fraser Downs, there was a perfect example of a confusing scene. The sixth race of the evening had been concluded, and the unofficial winner had already got their photo taken. Before the race could go official, the judges had determined “confusion” happened at the early stages. The unofficial winner, Stash The Cookies were placed last, and a new winner was crowned. That’s all fine and dandy if the was an infraction causing the placement, but my issue is with the communication in which it was delivered. No inquiry sign was posted well after the race, and it needed to be explained better what constituted the confusion.

Judges should be held to the same, if not higher, standards as the drivers, trainers and owners. Racing officials are the law in our sport, and just like the existing court systems, they need to conduct everything by the book to ensure complete fairness.

They need to be accountable to the horsemen, women, and bettors. When a sport’s integrity is questioned, why would people spend their hard-earned cash on gambling on it?

This has not only been lacking on the track during the live races but in all circumstances surrounding racing. Repeat offenders for doping and other racing infractions seem to get away with everything short of murder, and they end up back on track in no time at all.

The MLB has been imposing harsher penalties on players who fail drug tests. MLB has assessed a three-strike and your-out penalty. Players must sit 80 games for the first offence, half the regular season’s games. A player faces a full season suspension if a second positive test happens. Finally, if any player dares to get caught for the third time, they are reported to be banned for life from MLB.

It’s a harsh penalty, but we should be using more in the standardbred community. With animal activist groups constantly pushing for animal rights, the last thing we should do is flirt with that line regarding our animals’ welfare.

This is the responsibility of the regional commissions to ensure the integrity of the sport on and off the mark is upheld, and they are failing.

How do we fix this? That will be harder said than done, but the first thing to do is make sure that on-track judges are held accountable. There should be no shame in publicly blasting any wrongdoings in the performance of the judges. Almost every time UFC President Dana White gets to a podium, he criticizes the officiating of the in-octagon referee or the state-commissioned judges. That needs to be something that every racing commission is willing to do. If a group of judges messes up a race, that needs to be publicly recognized. That is the only way they will improve if public oversight exists.

The commissions can be confident of losing people to fix the drugs and other racing infraction problems. If they are repeat offenders, they should have been gone YESTERDAY! We can’t keep justifying people’s destructive behaviours and expect things to get better miraculously. There is a reason Barry Bonds is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, Ohio. We need to make sure that the Barry Bonds in horse racing never be allowed to have their place in our Hall of Fame.

The fans and the bettors deserved complete transparency in every aspect of the sport. They deserve transparency from the judges during the racing and the commission when it comes to who the repeat offenders are and why they are still in the sport.

by Trey Colbeck, for Harnesslink