KEY POINTS:
New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR) has a massive public relations job on its hands.
The country's regulatory racing body clearly needs to convince jockeys, trainers, and, it seems, the Judicial Control Authority (JCA), exactly what it expects from riders during a race.
This came to a very clear
head with the recent charges against jockeys Jim Collett and David Walsh.
The pair of high profile Waikato horsemen were charged with not taking every reasonable measure to ensure their mounts obtained the best finishing position in a race - a charge one step, but quite a distance, back from pulling a horse up.
Last week both charges were dismissed by the JCA.
Walsh and Collett, with a few others, were astonished the charges were laid in the first place.
NZTR's newly appointed general manager of integrity Fin Powrie is equally astonished the JCA did not issue guilty verdicts.
That is the huge gap NZTR has to fill.
Powrie is a long way from changing his stance because of the judgments.
"I fully support the right of the stewards to bring these charges, significant charges that should have brought a guilty verdict."
The difference in perception appears to have been created by a dramatic change at the top of racing's judicial hierarchy.
With the recent retirement of chief stipendiary steward Noel McCutcheon came Australian Cameron George, who acts as a senior stipendiary steward.
There is no longer a chief stipendiary steward, that position being absorbed by Powrie's post as head of integrity.
Clearly the two Australians have a different view of the way the Rules Of Racing, particularly in the area of riding, should be applied.
Powrie, a Scottish-born naturalised Australian who most recently was chief steward in Dubai, is well qualified to talk on rules.
He is chairman of the International Stewards Conference and will chair a business session on the harmonising of racing stewardship at the Asian Racing Conference in Dubai next month.
"One of the topics at that session will be running horses on their merits."
The meeting will be conducted on a wider spectrum than normal Asian Racing Conferences.
Among the countries represented will be Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, England, France, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Sweden, Macau, Malaysia, South Africa, United States, Thailand, Germany and Turkey. Argentina, Norway and Russia are expected to commit shortly.
Powrie's goal, a difficult one, is for each country to have a clearly defined universal opinion on what constitutes horses being ridden on their merits.
"Clearly, the two cases we've just dealt with fall outside of what is internationally acknowledged as being acceptable," Powrie said.
He said he would present a report to the NZTR board on the matter, part of which would be a recommendation that New Zealand had to lift the bar.
An appeal against the JCA's decision on Walsh and Collett seems unlikely.
"If you appeal on a procedural error you can expose that, but if you simply appeal the decision it once again comes down to a subjective opinion," Powrie said.
"We're robust enough to accept we can't win everything."
But Powrie doesn't see it as a win-lose scenario, he wants to see an immaculate New Zealand image when viewed from afar.
With the globalisation of horse racing - we were only months away from joining Australia's betting pools - image was everything, he said.
"New Zealand already bets more than $1 billion a year. The exposure to other parts of the world [where betting on our racing can be promoted] can never be underestimated.
"Negativity is very difficult to reverse. If you damage the principle, you're lost."
Perception, not the rules themselves, appears to create the problems according to Powrie.
"There is no magic in the rule book - there are no abstract rules.
"The application of the rules should be straightforward."
He totally rejects the opinions of some that Cameron George - who charged Walsh and Collett - is attempting to create an image by being over vigilant in bringing charges.
"Cameron [George] is applying the rules as the rules were written.
"I've have enough experience internationally to know when someone's flexing their muscles.
"He's doing his job and I wouldn't respect a steward that didn't," Powrie said.
The main job will be with the JCA who inevitably hear charges.
Best effort
* Stewards charged jockeys Jim Collett and David Walsh with not attempting to get best finish.
* Last week the Judicial Control Authority dismissed the charges.
* NZ Thoroughbred Racing general manager of integrity, Fin Powrie, expected guilty verdicts.
