Re: does the punishment fit the crime? (556 Views)
Posted by:
imallin (IP Logged)
Date: November 29, 2006 06:05AM
Racing is fascinating in the sense that the 'investors' get punished for the crimes of the participants.
If you own stock in a company that does something illegal, should you be punished financially or go to jail? Thats what happens in racing, the innocent horseplayer is the one who's punished financially.
Also, the biggest horseplayers in the world get punished for MORE than the connections quite often. Imagine getting dq'd for a million bucks in a massive pick 6 pool where you would have been the only winner. Should a random horseplayer get 'fined' one million dollars for a mistake of a jockey? Isn't that an extreme fine for someone who's bascially innocent?
Funny thing is that in dq's, its either or. If the judges are sitting upstairs and are totally deadlocked and are in a 50/50 position, the dq'd horse gets punished fully and not partially.
Lets say its a 10k claimer. The rider loses his share of the purse, gets 3 days of sun and fun on the golf course but a horseplayer can literally lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in income. A horseplayer can be 'fined' a hundred grand when the guy who made the mistake gets fined a few hundred bucks and told to go play golf for a few days.