Worldwide rules.qxd:Jerkins feature.qxd
21/8/08
17:43
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WORLDWIDE RULES
“In football, a Greek team can play a Turkish team, on a Spanish pitch, with a Swedish referee and everyone understands the rules. Why can’t racing be the same?” Christian von der Recke
Criquette Head-Maarek is hoping to make changes at a hands-on level in her role as President of the ETF. “I’d like to make life easier for all trainers by eliminating the differences in rules concerning racing equipment throughout Europe”, she declared as an objective at the beginning of the year. This area is a minefield, with rules varying from country to country on which equipment is permitted, which must be declared in advance, and which is forbidden. An example is the tongue tie, which is freely
used in France, must be officially declared in Britain and is forbidden in Switzerland as trainer Alban de Mieulle recently discovered to his cost. While it is an inconvenience for trainers who are obliged to read the small print of each country’s particular ruling before running a horse abroad, this also causes confusion among punters. In our modern age of global betting, there should be no reason why a punter is informed that a horse is equipped with a tongue tie when racing in England, but have no indication of this information for a French race.
ONE RULE BOOK FOR ALL Christian von der Recke echoes the sentiments of Head-Maarek on the ruling of what has become a global sport. “Group races are like the Champions League and in an international game we should all play by the same rules. In football, a Greek team can play a Turkish team, on a Spanish pitch, with a Swedish referee and everyone understands the rules. Why can’t racing be the same?” The dual-purpose German handler travels more than most of his European contemporaries due to a decline in racing in his homeland and in 2006 visited no less
ISSUE 23 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 21