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Originally Posted by jballscalls
Its a tough line to tow as far as reporting on accidents during races. Personally if i see a horse pulling up, being eased or that has broken down or unseated the rider, i will always mention it. I think its a no doubter that whatever happens in the race should be reported.
The trickier spot is after the race/incident. The problem is, that reporting the truth is not always easy. There are many times that from the roof, you can see that a horse is on the track or has clearly broken down and probably will be put down. However i personally choose not to announce the horses condition over the PA if that is the case. I will usually just say the horse is down or standing well. As far as the rider, if there is no movement or very little i will usually state the rider is down and being attended to. If i can see movement or positive signals i will always report that info.
Its a tough line to tow, simply because you want to get people as much information as possible, but you also dont want to be announcing and speculating on the horse and or jockeys condition when you just don tknow. Plus, even though many of us do realize that accidents and breakdowns are part of the game, many novice fans dont, and thus is it in the best interests of recruiting new fans to the game by telling them a beautiful animal will have to be put down?
Curious to know what people think about this issue.
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I really do not fault the track anouncers if they do not see it. Hell, if Denman could miss Street Sense shooting up the rail in the BC, then missing a spill midpack on the backstretch in a race with a full field is understandable. If seen by the anouncer, then all I am looking for is an acknowledgement that something happened. I am sure that there were people who did not see the spill who were wondering what the hell happened to thier horse. After the race, if you want to report that the jock is up, walking around or maybe something else that is positive. I understand that these spills usually have a bad ending for the horses and sometimes the jocks. No one is asking you to speculate on a horse or jocks condition from where you are or be the bearer of bad news. No one wants to hear commentary when that sheet comes out or someone is going in the ambulance. But for a network, which covers racing exclusively this is unacceptable. I do not care if this is not one of thier major tracks. It was a race that they COVERED and to miss the incident totally is ridiculous. Then to misreport it as a starting gate mishap is unacceptable. I really wonder if they did follow up the incident with and accurate follow up report.