NHA chief defends Fairview stewards as jockey is banned for incident

National Horseracing Authority (NHA) CEO Vee Moodley has gone into bat for the Fairview stipendiary stewards, saying they made the right call in the race last Friday which left jockey Gabriell Pieterse badly injured.

Social media websites have received a large number of posts declaring that the race should have been stopped once the accident occurred.

However, Moodley, who must take credit for swiftly addressing the issue, has stated that “the integrity of the race, horse welfare and jockey safety were never jeopardised”.

“The split-second decision taken by the NHA officials under extreme pressure was vindicated by the positive outcome. They should be applauded rather than being targeted to provide the material for unfortunate propaganda.”

The official Stipes report says that after passing the winning post on the first occasion at around the 1,800m mark, jockey Pieterse was dislodged when he became severely unbalanced after having to check his mount Maiden’s Cove away from the heels of Hey Siri (Francois Herholdt), which shifted in when insufficiently clear.

Pieterse was attended to on the track by the paramedics in the pull-up area and thereafter was transported to hospital for further observation.

Herholdt was charged with a contravention of Rule 62.2.7 in that as the rider of Hey Siri he failed to ensure that he did not cause interference to Maiden’s Cove leaving the 1,800m. Herholdt signed an admission of guilt and was suspended from riding in races for 14 days.

Moodley added: “Once jockey Pieterse was dislodged from his mount past the winning post, the Stipendiary Board was in immediate contact with the NHA chief veterinary surgeon and the starting staff.”

“They were given the ‘all clear’ to continue with their monitoring of the race as they had the incident and Pieterse within their line of sight and under control during constant and uninterrupted communication with the stewards. As for the comments concerning the ‘pull-up area’ and personnel at risk, they are not wholly correct. Nobody was injured but for Pieterse, and the transgressor of the incident was duly sanctioned.

“In ‘normal’ races, jockeys and horses take evasive action if there is an incident or a fall in a race,” said Moodley.

“On Friday the horses were being eased up and under control and, as a consequence, nothing catastrophic occurred. When making these live, split-second decisions, we fully comprehend that we would be subject to a whole lot of scrutiny and criticism. Leadership is the ability to make decisions, sometimes without the comfort of having the luxury of time or the benefit of hindsight. The outcome of the above incident was positive and we are extremely comfortable with the end result,” he concluded.

Meanwhile — recovering in hospital — jockey Pieterse penned an open letter clearly not agreeing with the case put forward by Moodley.

He wrote: “The incident which occurred was obviously scary, severe and completely uncalled for.

“I’d like to express my deepest disappointment in the safety measures that were taken to not only look after myself, but for the handlers, vets, medics and jockeys themselves in the race.

“There are no safety nets in place if an incident like this would have occurred, which unfortunately it did.

“There is no red flag for a race unless it’s out of the gates due to a false start. The race should have been stopped at the top of the straight.

“It would have prevented what could have been multiple jockeys being dislodged, multiple grooms and handlers being struck by oncoming horses and myself who could have been trampled while I’m having lifesaving procedures.”