Stewards: Tamworth drama caused by "a white snip on his nose"

Racing NSW chief steward Tom Moxon was delighted with the way the processes worked, resulting in a dead heat at Tamworth on Monday.

Initially, Lady Billie was judged the winner, but on further inspection, a dead heat was declared with favourite Oakfield Utah before correct weight.

It all came down to a white snip on Oakfield Utah’s nose.

“We had a part-time judge for the day at Tamworth, and he made a decision, but asked a steward to have a look because it was close,” Moxon said.

“Fortunately, the steward had judged in the past, and he knew how to make the image a bit clearer using the equipment."

“It looked like the inside horse [Oakfield Utah] had won on the TVs, but the problem came about because he had a white snip on his nose, it was hard to get clarity of it on the photo."

“The steward was able to show the nose was on the line and was confident it was a dead heat, as was the judge."

“It is how we want the process to work, and even though it took a few minutes, it was the right decision and, importantly, before correct weight.”

Moxon said the angle at Tamworth had fooled a few people in the past.

“There aren’t that many tracks where there is a TV camera right on the post, so looking at the vision can give you the wrong impression,” Moxon said.

“When you watched that race you would think the inside horse won easily, but the photo told the real story."