By MIKE DILLON
Peter Lock says he feels like giving racing away after two of his horses started in the wrong races at Wairoa on Thursday.
A member of the Lock stable staff got two runners, Emily Jean and Minefield, mixed, and inadvertently ran them under the wrong names.
Tragically, Emily Jean, accepted to run in the 1850m maiden, ran under the name of Minefield and won the 1100m maiden, paying $34.75 for a win and $7.25 for a place.
The real Minefield, who had not previously raced beyond 1100m, stopped quickly in the 1850m race finishing last.
The Te Rapa trainer was having his first day off in two years with his family and watched in horror from the TAB in Mt Maunganui as Emily Jean won the wrong race.
"It's a simple case of the girl getting the two horses mixed up and I feel sorry for her because she's been with me only a few weeks and was doing a very good job," said Lock yesterday.
"The two horses are almost identical apart from Minefield having a little bit of white on her face. Most people couldn't tell the difference."
Lock said he twigged when what he thought was Minefield was standing too quietly in the barriers when he first walked into the TAB.
"She can be a toey tart and was standing there like a lamb. Then, when they jumped out, she seemed flat, which is also not like her.
"It's not surprising she was flat, she's a stayer racing over 1100m."
When Lock got a side view of Emily Jean returning after winning as Minefield he called his staff member by cellphone and asked her to read him the horses' brands.
He immediately knew a terrible mistake had been made and telephoned stipendiary steward Keith Hawea, who checked the brands and made an official report.
All of which was too late to alter the placings on the day.
Under the Rules of Racing once official dividends have been declared and payouts started, it is not possible to amend the results, so the Emily Jean, despite running under the wrong name, remains intact for betting ticket holders.
The only certainty is that both horses will be disqualified from their respective races following a hearing before Waikato racecourse inspector Bryan McKenzie on Tuesday.
Because technically, both horses won on Thursday they were promoted a grade by the Racing Club and placed in C1 races for the second day of the meeting tomorrow.
However, Lock yesterday was contacted by a racecourse inspector telling him it was too difficult to officially determine the class status of both horses before Sunday and neither will be permitted to start.
Lock said he was intrigued by both performances.
"I gave Emily Jean a bit of a chance in the 1850m and she won at 1100m. Either I'm a bad judge or they were bad horses.
"And I feel sorry for Minefield, she has never run beyond 1100m and was dropped into a 1850m race wearing blinkers for the first time."
Lock said he feels sorry for everyone involved in the incident.
"I also feel sorry for my wife and kids, who straight after what happened I had to pack up in the car and bring them home from holiday.
"But most of all I feel sorry for the girl, who is at Wairoa looking after the horses doing her best. She's really copping some stick from people down there."
New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing chief executive Allan Fenwick last night said a check of betting activities would be among its investigations.
"On the face of it, it appears an innocent mistake, but we would not be doing a particularly good job if we did not ascertain betting figures and all of those things that go with it," Fenwick said.
Racing: Mix-up makes trainer want to give up racing
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