Justify, Gambling and Restoring Hope (1299 Views)
Posted by:
skitimber (IP Logged)
Date: June 12, 2018 10:10AM
A couple of thoughts from a neutral corner:
First, the game wouldn't be on it's last leg even if every race were thought to be fixed; people love gambling and would always enjoy the idea of predicting the fix. People bet on dog fights and dog races and bet their last few dollars on the lottery even when they know their chances of winning are less than that of being hit by lightening. If they could see cockroach races, I bet (see - people will be on anything) they'd bet on those as well.
As far as Justify, I don't think anyone claiming he isn't a deserving TC winner nor wouldn't have won the race without Restoring Hope entered, but the concern is simply that if the race had been closer, Restoring Hope might have made a difference. To some, it's cheating and to others, not.
Finally, I hope we haven't seen Justify's last race and hope there's a horse that can give him a fight later in the year (and that Restoring Hope or similar not entered in the race so no questions after the fact.)