Hi Mike,

I'm glad that you agree that the rider should be penalized but I doubt that any penalty to the jockey alone will conteract his payoff on the 23-1 bet he probably had on the horses plus his share of the purse in a major stakes race. Horses are taken down because that is the only thing that detters such careless riding. When a trainer hires a jock or a better bets a horse ridden by a particular rider, he casts his fortune on the riders decisions. Should the owner still get the purse and winners still collect their bets if they bet on a horse whoe's rider lost the race by taking the horse too wide or misjudging the pace get the. Bad rides by the jock are part of the assumed risk. If a rider cannot win a race cleanly even with the best horse, he needs to come down. The bettors, owners and trainers that go down with him have no one but him and themselves to blame for putting their money on him.

What next, are we going to allow a jockey to beat a rival jocky with the whip or try to knock him off his horse as well claiming that that his opposition had no chance to beat him anyway?

Bob