A LIVID owner has spoken of his fury over a ruling that saw his ‘winning’ horse demoted to second – six weeks after the race.
Ian Corazzol, who is in his 70s, was raging after a row erupted over the quality of the cameras used to determine what was originally ruled a dead-heat.
It was not until footage of the race was played before more high quality cameras at another racecourse that the true winner was revealed.
That meant for Corazzol that his horse, instead of being the joint-winner as is custom in a dead-heat, was relegated to second.
The controversy started on February 11 when four stewards and two judges ruled Lets Torque A Deel and Frankie Blue Eyes could not be split in a race at Rockhampton in Queensland, Australia.
But Corazzol, who owns five-year-old gelding Lets Torque A Deel, says a probe was launched into the outcome a week later ‘for no apparent reason’.
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The owner claimed he was not informed the result was in doubt until he heard about it by word of mouth.
And he says he only learned of the dodgy equipment that threw the result into question at the inquiry six weeks after the race.
When the race was replayed under the cameras used at Brisbane racecourse, judges were able to see Corazzol’s horse actually came second by one eighth of an inch.
Corazzol said: “I’m pretty bloody dirty at this whole shemozzle.
“Five days after the race, my trainer John Manzelmann rang me asking if anybody had contacted me about it.
“He said he was getting people up there saying the stewards were looking into it and that we were probably going to lose it.
ROW OVER TECHNOLOGY
“Ten days later I got a phone call from a steward in Brisbane and I said to him I had already heard about it through the grapevine, how does that happen before the connections of the horse know?
“Then it has taken another three or four weeks for all parties to be available for an inquiry.
“The judge here (in Brisbane) said the cameras are the same in Brisbane and Rockhampton, then the judge up there (Rockhampton) jumped in and said, ‘no the cameras are eight years old, along with the computer’.
“To me that says the equipment up there is not good enough.
“The Rockhampton judges and stewards have got six people up there to declare a dead-heat – four stewards, a judge and his assistant – all of them declared it a dead-heat.
“Only for it to then be sent to Brisbane about 10 days later, for their better technology to be able to find maybe an eighth-of-an-inch margin.
“I find it contradictory that stewards here in Brisbane are contradicting stewards up there, only because down here they have more advanced equipment.
‘NOT GOOD ENOUGH’
“It is not the judge or stewards’ fault up there, they are only as good as the equipment they have in front of them.”
Lets Torque A Deel has won twice since the controversial race, picking up a total of £12,500 for victories at Rockhampton and Mackay on March 4 and 15 respectively.
