The Weight of Evidence

The weigh-in rules are not a moveable feast.

A jockey has to come back the same as when he went out. If this wasn’t applied with absolute strictness, racing as we know it wouldn’t exist.

The clerk of the scales allows sensible breathing space. Up to one pound, it is considered, may be lost legitimately (by sweating, for example) or, on rainy days, gained (through mud and wet clothing) in the time it takes to run a race.

Any greater disparity attracts penalties. Interestingly, when a jockey weighs in too heavy the horse is not disqualified, since performance is not considered to have been enhanced.

The rule of thumb is that an extra pound on the back of a horse over a mile will cost it one length. The science is inexact.

Once, at Kempton, this necessary regulation allowed me to find a new way to lose. I had backed the favourite on boggy ground in a chase. It was the last race on the card - money won would be got out of the gate with.

Coming to the final obstacle the horse was comfortably clear. There is always a holding of breath at such times. Sure enough he put in a wobbly jump, twisting in the air and landing skewwiff. The heart missed the expected beat, but mount and rider remained an item.

In the next half-second, lead weights, jolted free, came tumbling from their saddle pockets. The non-celebrating jockey passed the post a weary first.

The clerk intervened. The best horse lost. I walked home.