Aidan O’Brien had two fillies in the same race at Newmarket that ran with the wrong numbers and jockeys.:eek: https://www.paulickreport.com/news/t…-fillies-mile/
Aiden O’Brien has not had a good month.
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Ouch! The worst we’ve ever done was not getting a horse into the paddock on time. Rather embarrassing since we we stables at the track and it’s a two minute walk from the shedrow, and she was the only one racing that night…
The racecourse has to answer for not checking the microchips as well. It’s quite the fiasco all around.
This exactly was my thought. A mistake that shouldn’t have happened all around true enough. To be fair to Aiden, he wasn’t at Newmarket, he caught the problem when he saw the race on video delay.
Wonder what BHA will do with this mess.
The buck stops at Aidan O’Brien but so many people had to drop the ball for this to happen, it’s incredible. :yes:
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While O’Brien’s team should have been on the ball & paid closer attention, Apparently protocol wasn’t strictly followed & microchip ls weren’t checked when they should have been either. Which is being looked into.
https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/244035/obrien-issues-apology-after-mix-up-in-fillies-mile
Yes, that was mentioned in the Racing Post article, and here in post #4.
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:encouragement:
I totally get that the buck stops with Aidan but man, talk about how many different people/organizations dropped the ball on this one.
At least Aidan, as soon as he saw the race replay, immediately contacted BHA. I doubt anything nefarious intended but still a mistake and a mess as one of the ‘mislabeled’ horses finished 3rd :eek:
He was notified about the mistake on Twitter. He then watched the replay and called the BHA. Here’s an updated article; https://www.racingpost.com/news/latest/aidan-obrien-apologises-after-mother-earth-and-snowfall-mix-up-in-fillies-mile/454111
Ahhh… the PR article implied, IIRC, that he caught it watching the reply.
At least he notified appropriate officials as soon as it was brought to his attention.
He had to. :lol: It was a big mistake that comes with big repercussions.
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As long as he isn’t held solely responsible. Yup, he’s the trainer, it’s on him but given that many of the other checks and balances that should have happened to catch this error didn’t he IMO shouldn’t have to bear responsibility alone.
IMO, biggest repercussion that can’t really be resolved is the monies that were paid to bettors based on the ‘official’ results and now can’t be rectified if the third place horse is DQd.
Other repercussions like prize monies can be ‘fixed’ as well as the corrected past performances race record.
Would have been so much easier if said horses had finished last and next to last :lol:
It’s a mess for sure.
Aidan O’Brien will be held solely responsible for his horses appearing in the wrong saddle cloths with the wrong jockeys up, because he’s the trainer. He can deal with his employees as he sees fit, but the in the eyes of the BHS the buck stops with him. How severe the penalties will be remains to be seen.
I imagine the BHS will have a discussion with the people that were responsible for scanning the microchips. I don’t know if Newmarket or the BHS employs them, but I expect they will be disciplined by the BHS as well. They’re a pretty no nonsense organization.
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queue the conspiracy theorists in europe LOL.
