The Meadowlands Racetrack has issued an official statement in regard to the situation which occurred this past Saturday evening at the East Rutherford, New Jersey track where driver Joe Bongiorno was replaced on two of his mounts after making comments on the track’s pre-race broadcast.
The release states that Bongiorno was replaced on two of his mounts after a pre-race interview in which he stated that his instructions from the owners of those horses were to race those two horses conservatively in anticipation of upcoming stakes.
The release explains that after listening to the interview, the presiding judges at the Meadowlands on Saturday felt that Bongiorno should be replaced on the two mounts to protect the interests of those wagering on the races discussed.
The contents of the Meadowlands’ release appear below.
Meadowlands Statement On Saturday TV Interview
East Rutherford, NJ - Last Saturday night at The Meadowlands driver Joe Bongiorno was replaced on two of his mounts after a pre-race interview in which he stated that his instructions from the owners of those horses were to race those two horses conservatively in anticipation of upcoming stakes.
The judges at The Meadowlands, after listening to the interview, felt that he should be replaced to protect the interests of those wagering on the races discussed. Protecting the integrity of the racing is their job description.
Drivers and other racing personalities that may be interviewed or post comments on social media are certainly not trained in the field. Mr. Bongiorno has said publicly that he did not state his intentions clearly in the interview. At twenty years of age, his media exposure is limited but his enthusiasm for racing and his integrity are unquestioned.
Experienced horseplayers are aware that there is no substitute for observing the actions taken by drivers during a race to determine if the horse was driven properly. The interview comments made by drivers are similar to the way the NFL discloses injuries, to provide interested parties with the most current and accurate information possible as well as adding a personal component to the broadcasts.
In this age of information saturation, as we navigate through the process of utilizing the various social platforms to our best advantage, there will be missteps. So long as wagering is an element of our product, those will be magnified. While this situation may be regrettable, it was dealt with in an objective and thoughtful fashion.
The Meadowlands considers both information and integrity vital components to the future success of harness racing. Our expectation is that any horse entered to race at The Meadowlands is racing to win every time.
Plain and simple every horse
Plain and simple every horse that is on that gate should be doing all they can do to win..none of this taking a helmut or half effort stuff. Anything less there should be long suspensions and big fines!
Should have went a step
Should have went a step further and scratched the horses. Does one not think that the replacement driver was given the same instructions.
The judges only went part way
The judges only went part way regarding what they should have done. The decision to supposedly not race these horses was that of the trainer or owners or a combination of these two. JB was just repeating his orders. At that point, the horses should have been scratched.
And by the way Mr. Gural, you
And by the way Mr. Gural, you should be proud of Mr. Bongiorno and you should have been the one to make a request to the judges that those horses be scratched.
There is such a thing as LACK
There is such a thing as LACK OF EFFORT,but it is not the owners who get penalized, it's the jockey. At one time, a lack of effort was very closely looked at by the judges, but now it seems that the lack of effort is by the judges.It is not Mr. Bongiorno that should have been dismounted but the owner or owners, who's horse should have been scratched.If the horse is not ready to compete, do not put him in the box,and most of all do not make a cheater out of your driver by telling him to race the horse (conservatively or give him an easy trip), that is not what racing was meant to be.I have owned, raced,trained,driven horses for most of my life,and I can see when there is a lack of effort from a driver,but that rule does not seem to be implemented at Woodbine or Mohawk. I take my hat off to Mr. Claire Smith (Presiding judge) back in the 60's, honesty, fairness, integrity towards the better and driver.He would have scratched the horse and told the owner to go train your horse at another track and when he is ready to race, maybe you can bring him back, this is not a training track, it is a racetrack.And Mr. Bongiorno,on my part, THANK YOU for your HONESTY in not hiding the intentions of that owner.You may not get another drive from that owner, but you will get many more from honest owners. Good Luck, and have a good day.
Mr. Palermo the NFL is not a
Mr. Palermo the NFL is not a gambling based business. Although there's lot's of money wagered on it, that is not how they derive their operating costs & profits from. Horseracing did count on wagering as it's sole source of income at one time, but now it seems that they are becoming more reliant on the slots. If those 2 horses did not want to get roughed up.....TRAIN them & race them next week @ Yonkers. I for one advanced bet both of those horses thinking they both had a shot....kinda sucks when I find out a day later about the non effort plans the OWNER had. Do we as players have to look at entry sheets for the following week/weeks now to guess the intentions of these horses? BTW the info is only good to those who hear it...it was not on the program I handicapped. Bottom line after that info was released by Mr. Bongoirno the horses should have been scratched!
In reply to Mr. Palermo the NFL is not a by Kevin
I have to disagree. The NFL
I have to disagree. The NFL is very much in the wagering game. Without all that Vegas $ going in, etc. there is nowhere as much interest in the product.
Maybe the horses should have
Maybe the horses should have been scratched & not just the driver seeing that it was owner instructions? Seems like the horse people are their own worst enemies? Hard to instill confidence in the existing customer base let alone "newbies" when you hear this. The public's hard earned money is being wagered on these horses....giving them an "easy trip" is unacceptable!
Every equine athlete has a
Every equine athlete has a limited number of top efforts. It is a trainers responsibility to manage a horse's career to make the best of those top efforts. To expect every horse to be all out to win every race is not only unrealistic but actually irresponsible. If the NFL is the comparison then how many teams that have clinched a playoff spot on week 17 play the starters for the whole game? There is billions of dollars wagered on NFL and this happens all the time. It is the job of the NFL player (or in our world a horseplayer) to understand these facts and wager accordingly. Poor Mr. Bongiorno couldn't have been more open and transparent. He never said he wouldn't win or wouldn't be trying to win, but rather drive conservatively in order to have a top performance next week. This happens every night at every race track in North America. In can be argued that the judges replacing Mr. Bongiorno on those drives actually was more deceiving to the horseplayer than Mr. Bongiorno could have ever been accused. I understand where The Big M is coming from; however, it is direct contradiction to other information they give the public. i.e.: information on training during a layoff. Information is a very powerful item in a horseplayers repertoire. Embrace the information don't punish it.
We all know as owners or
We all know as owners or handicappers that racing a horse takes management. And at certain times horses are raced to have them peak for upcoming races. It was nice to hear honesty from the driver and now he gets penalized because of his honesty. Do the track operators and judges want to promote that lieing or only telling half truths the better way to go about things. Is the industry not always fighting integrity issues?
As a fan of the sport and someone who follows the races closely it was a breath of fresh air to hear the honesty. Now reading the consequences of this drivers honesty is very disappointing and raises eyebrows why everyone in the sport cannot take the honest approach.
Congrats to the Big M and the
Congrats to the Big M and the judges for using this opportunity to once again reinforce to the betters that INTEGRITY is all important and that they will always get a bang for their betting dollar. It's been accepted for far too long now to leave a horse out when he is coming off a qualifier but to include him after one start. Experienced betters have knowledge of this but what about an inexperienced or casual better ?
If we are to bring in new fans then how would you explain to them that they should not wager on a horse in his first start because he is NOT ready. This practice as gone on for far too long and is detrimental to the sport of racing and it's longevity. The rules of racing are broken when this happens and the judges whom are responsible for upholding these rules have a duty to act upon them. Gone should be the days of racing a horse for a tightener. If you put him in the box then he should be 100% ready and not 75%. Otherwise the horse re-qualifies till he is ready and the time should be comparable to his class NOT the track standards.
Find one experienced person
Find one experienced person who believes "that every horse is racing to win every time" and 1 will provide one thousand who don't believe it for each one!!
How can we get these judges
How can we get these judges at Woodbine and Mohawk?