Scratched horse wins in Dubai, a travesty

[PatCummings]

http://www.dubairacenight.com/scratc...ins-at-meydan/

In an absolute travesty to punters, Thursday’s third race winner at Meydan was shown as a non-runner on the international tote feed. Wagering outlets were still able to take bets on #1 GOLDEN SWORD, but the public that paid any attention to the international feed were shown a crawl indicating the horse was a scratch, and odds were never once reflected for Golden Sword during the entire duration of the lead-up to the race.

On course, Golden Sword earned more than 53 percent of all the top tips in the pick seven pool, which would equate to being less than even money. With four minutes to the race, Golden Sword was offered at 6-1 on the pools, then slowly dipped in the wagering until being sent forward as a 2-1 choice, a price likely bigger than what would have been expected had the correct prices been exhibited to the public. The international feed showed #7 FINAL DRIVE as the 3-1 favorite at post time, but he didn’t figure in the result as Golden Sword eased away to a 2.25 length win.

AmWest Entertainment, a distributor of the signal, has been contacted for comment and responses will be posted here, if received. Betting pools are run through Phumelela Gaming in South Africa.

The results were declared and paid as official in the international commingled tote, with Golden Sword returning $6.60 to US bettors for the win.