Racing is such a riot

There are race riots and there are race riots.

Today we're not concerned with colour clashes in the spectrum of the Rainbow Nation but with the rowdy events at Clairwood racecourse.

The abandonment of Sunday's race meeting as a result of angry punters storming the jockeys' weighing room might have been distressing but it was nothing compared to the worst racing riot in history - in Constantinople in 532 AD.

Back then, punters got really worked up.

It began at the chariot races, contested between the two big sporting factions in the Byzantine city.

The keen rivalry descended into a week of rioting, with tens of thousands of people killed, half the city up in flames and Emperor Justinian almost deposed. One good thing came out of the gemors: Justinian rebuilt the razed Hagia Sophia church into the magnificent building that endures to this day as Istanbul's icon.

Whether any good comes out of the Clairwood fracas remains to be seen.

Actually "riot" is a slight exaggeration of what happened in Durban. It was more an expression of indignation, though the racegoers were spitting mad and looked dangerous.

They were upset about a faulty start to race 6 and stipendiary stewards allowing the result to stand.

They besieged the weighing room, demanding that the ruling be overturned. Attempts to disperse them proved fruitless; even the police's knuckle-dragging finest couldn't pacify the baying mob.

The rest of the meeting was abandoned for safety reasons.

The spark was the odds-on favourite, a filly called My Sanctuary, not starting the race "on terms" - due to her stall gate having dodgy electrics and opening slightly after those of the others. Usually this results in the affected horse being declared a non-runner, which means backers get their money refunded.

But a rule clause states that, if such a horse finishes in the first four places, it is a legitimate runner. My Sanctuary ran on from way back to clinch third.

The rule is intended to protect owners who might lose out on prize money if a place-getting horse, albeit disadvantaged, is scratched.

But those other mainstays of racing, the punters, got the short straw - with no refunds for win, multiple or some exotic bets on a horse everyone expected to win easily. Insult was added to injury by a betting rule: there were insufficient runners for third to qualify for even a place payout.

Unhappy debate rumbles on about an incident that is bad for the game, which surely doesn't need its supporters to feel that they have been unfairly treated.

But crowd unrest isn't new to racing.

I've read about various incidents, including one at the very same Clairwood, during the Second World War and before photo-finish cameras when a mob of soldiers - including a platoon of Aussies - burned down the race judge's elevated wooden box after the poor guy called the wrong result in a close finish.

It all goes to show that, when money's involved, a riot is just a cock-up away.

Turffontein tomorrow: PA - 1,9 x 8 x 3,8 x 3,4,6 x 4,5,7 x 2,3 x1 (R72)