Odds On Equuleus Hearing Next Tuesday
By Bill Finley
The Odd On Equuleus team will officially begin its fight to
overturn what has widely been hailed as one of the worst
disqualifications in harness racing history Nov. 13 when
driver John Campbell will have a hearing before the Red
Mile judges. In an odd twist, the owners of the
colt, Odds On Racing, had to force
the judges to make an official ruling
against Campbell for his drive in the
Sept. 29 Bluegrass Stakes, something
they had failed to do. If there
was no ruling against Campbell, the
owners would not have had anything
to appeal.
"They never put out a ruling
against John, they never put anything
in writing," trainer Robin
Schadt said. "I don't know if that
was strategy on their part or not.
We wanted a hearing so they would
have t explain why they did what
they did."
A heavy favorite in the race,
Odds On Equuleus was disqualified
after the judges ruled that Campbell caused confusion to
trailing horses by slowing down the pace abruptly, a decision
most others found to be a head-scratcher.
"I am as confident as you can get when you are dealing
with a racing commission," Campbell said yesterday when
asked if he thought he would prevail. "I'd rather stay away
from any kind of controversy if I could. I feel that it was the
wrong call and it's a very important race for the horse and
there are 40,000 sum odd dollars at stake. I think this is an
appropriate move."
Should it be ruled during the appeals process that in fact
Campbell did nothing wrong then Odds On Equuleus can
have his victory restored. Wednesday's hearing is before the
judges only. Should they fail to overturn their original decision,
Schadt said her side will take the appeal to the Kentucky
Racing Commission.
"The judges can say, 'You know what, we made a mistake
and we're overturning this,'" she said. "That's highly unlikely.
But if we lose we'll take this to the racing commission and I
am confident they will overturn it."
(harnessracingupdate.com)
