More on Weightgate
The indictment last week against two former NYRA officials for falsifying jockey weights raises “serious and disturbing questions,” writes Steven Crist (Daily Racing Form — sub. req.):
What is perhaps most troubling about the entire matter is the way that it was addressed when it first began to come to light. NYRA officials have said that they initiated the investigation when they heard about possible improprieties at the scale more than a year ago. The appropriate response would have been for someone to step in and put a stop to it immediately. Instead, apparently because NYRA was operating under a deferred prosecution agreement and all sorts of regulatory scrutiny, paralyzed officials turned over their concerns to prosecutors rather than intervening themselves.
An investigation commenced, including surveillance at all three NYRA tracks, and evidence was collected on 67 “incidents” in 59 races run between June and December of 2004. In effect, then, it appears that investigators knowingly allowed these races to be run under tainted conditions for months in order to fatten the indictments against the clerk of scales and his assistant.
It is difficult to see how this approach protected rather than further deceived the public. Instead of fixing the problem, investigators appear to have allowed it to continue, in order to build a better case.
Also in the DRF, Matt Hegarty reports on the allowances officials make for jockey weights before and after races:
According to the racing officials, the clerk of scales typically subtracts the weights of helmets and safety vests — which are required equipment in all jurisdictions — before and after a race from the official weight and will many times give allowances for any dirt, water, or sweat that a jockey and his equipment will pick up during a race. In addition, in many jurisdictions, riders carry more equipment to the scales after a race than before, and that weight is also subtracted from the official post-race weight.
“Let’s say a guy checks in with 115 pounds, and that’s without the helmet and the jacket,” said Victor Sanchez, the clerk of scales at Calder Race Course in Miami. “You’re going to expect him to come back 118 or 119 because now he’s got the jacket and helmet, and he’s carrying the saddle girth which soaked up a lot of sweat plus his pommel pad and saddle, and if it’s muddy, then you’ve got all that dirt and water, and that stuff is heavy. You still mark 115. That’s just logical.”
Seems logical. But did investigators know officials made such calculations? That’s one of the questions raised by the indictment, which alleges that the five cited jockeys rode from seven to 15 pounds overweight. Hegarty notes:
In nine of the races, the riders were assigned 120 pounds or more. At a minimum of seven pounds overweight, that means the jockeys would have weighed 127 or more, or at least 11 pounds more than what any of the jockeys claimed was their regular riding weight.
Put that way, the allegations sound even more preposterous.
