Last week, we had two separate instances where a jockey weighed in incorrectly after their races and on both occasions, punters were scorned for something they had absolutely no control over.
Immediate changes are required in the event a jockey weighs in heavy or light after a race.
At the moment, if a jockey weighs in light, their mount is disqualified and the horse is declared a loser, with no refunds offered.
If the disqualified horse was the winner of the race then the horse which ran second is then declared the winner and paid out in full.
This is an injustice to punters who do not have access to weigh-out information and are therefore placing their bets under the innocent assumption that jockeys will weigh in at their designated weights.
As a jockey leaves the jockey rooms, the clerk of the scales weigh them and their riding equipment.
It is assumed they will maintain the same weight between then and when they return to the scales after the race, roughly 30 minutes later.
Last Thursday, Daniel Moor weighed in half-a-kilogram light after winning on Zuhayr in the first race at Seymour.
Zuhayr cruised home to win the 2015m race by 1.3 lengths but Al Command was ultimately declared the winner, leaving Zuhayr backers furious.
Moor was subsequently fined $2,500 which is minuscule compared to the total tote win pool equalling $68,822.
With Zuhayr being a $4.80 chance in a six horse field, roughly 20.83 per cent of win money was on Zuhayr, meaning his disqualification cost punters $14,337 in lost bets or $54,480 in winnings.
And that was only for official tote pools; when factoring other bookmakers, those win market figures are even higher.
So with a $2500 fine, Moor has got off very lightly compared to punters.
In a different incident on Wednesday at Kensington, Damien Thornton finished second by 1.0 lengths in the final race of the day on Candy Tuft but weighed in half-a-kilogram over his declared weight.
Thornton received a seven-meeting suspension but all results stood because Candy Tuft had not received any unfair advantage.
Once again however, punters who backed Candy Tuft, a $13 chance, can feel disappointed considering the small margin.
But furore over light jockeys is much greater than heavy ones.
In the event of jockeys weighing in light, rather than punters being robbed for their innocent mistakes, Racing Victoria chief steward Terry Bailey is seeking a new rule which will declare light jockeys as non-starters.
This would lead to refunds for punters who back the light horse.
It would also lead to market adjustments, which reduce winnings for the horse that passed the post second but be fair to all punters in the market.
How the proposed rule had not already been in place is baffling.
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