By MIKE DILLON
Sydney's chief stipe Ray Murrihy got his first glimpse of Michael Walker at Te Rapa on Saturday.
Between races four and five, New Zealand's 16-year-old champion walked past Murrihy in the weigh-in room and out into the birdcage eating a pie and talking into his cellphone.
"Umm," muttered Murrihy with a smile, "the chief steward in Sydney would have a few words to say about that."
Jockeys are banned from using cellphones on racecourses in Australia, where all use is barred from the birdcage and jockeys' room.
"At home I'd be very worried who was on the other end of that phone."
Jockeys are permitted cellphone use in New Zealand.
Murrihy has been in New Zealand inspecting our open-topped barrier stalls.
Since betting was introduced on the live telecast into New South Wales of New Zealand racing, Murrihy said there had been growing interest in replacing Australia's covered starting stalls with barriers similar to those used here.
Murrihy said there was general belief the New Zealand model led to fewer horses becoming claustrophobic when locked into the starting gates.
"Another advantage your gates have is that there is more flexibility.
"If a horse gets down in the gates here the stall can be dismanlted, where if one gets cast in our stalls at home they can be very difficult to extract."
The Australian barriers are generally better padded than the New Zealand version, something Murrihy believes assists in settling horses because they have no contact with the metal surface.
The padding means fewer horses than in New Zealand need to wear the starting blanket.
"We still have horses wearing the blanket - look at a horse like Bonanova, she won at group one, but may not have won a race had it not been for the blanket.
"Of course, the blanket will only help a horse that wants to get down, nothing will help a horse that wants to rear."
Murrihy said there are some incidents when Australian horses have injured their heads rearing as the start is made. That is not possible with our open-topped barriers.
In the 1970s leading Californian jockey Alvaro Pineda came to New Zealand to ride in an international jockeys' event at Ellerslie.
On his return home, Pineda had a horse rear on him coming out of the barriers, suffering fatal head injuries from contact with the metal overhead barrier.
The safety issue, for both horses and human, was important, said Murrihy.
"If we have a horse that has to be withdrawn after being injured in the barrier, we sometimes have to give back a million dollars in betting. That's significant."
Murrihy said he cannot get a clear feeling of jockeys on the issue.
"I reckon it is even money each way."
Murrihy will present a report to the major Sydney racing clubs on his return home.
Racing: Phone catches stipe's attention
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.