Appeal hearing set down for tomorrow as DeFilippi ponders losing chance of a lifetime

Colin DeFilippi doesn’t even know what the stake is for Tuesday’s IRT New Zealand Trotting Cup.

“It’s not the money,” says DeFilippi. “The cup is the pinnacle of harness racing, it’s something you dream of.”

The thought of being robbed of what is likely to be his last chance to drive in the race over a minor whip indiscretion is playing on DeFilippi’s mind as he prepares for his appeal hearing which has been set down for 10.30am at Riccarton on Saturday.

“Just getting a drive in the cup is hard and I know at my age this is probably my last go.”

What makes things even worse is the fact driving Heza Sport in the cup would have been the culmination of a lifetime of trying.

“I’ve been breeding horses for 50 years, since Mike and I first had horses, and this is the first time I’ve bred one that’s any good.

Colin DeFilippi had been looking forward to the ultimate feat of breeding, owning, training and driving Heza Sport in the cup.“I can own and train him but they’re saying I can’t drive him in the cup.”

DeFilippi, a former premiership winner who has been inducted into the Hall Of Fame, says he knows a lot of good trainers who have never had a cup runner.

“I’ve been lucky enough to train and drive Kym’s Girl to win in 2001 and I’ve run second three times, with Dillon Dean in 1989 and twice with Our Mana.

“But I haven’t had a drive in it for eight years (since Franco Ledger ran eighth in Adore Me’s 2014 cup).”

DeFilippi says he would cop the suspension if he had knocked someone down but to lose his cup drive over a whip indiscretion hardly seemed fair.

DeFilippi admits that after 47 years he’s found it hard adjusting to the new whip rules which restrict a driver to flicking at the horse while still holding the reins. The tip of the whip must also be pointed forward in an action which does not engage the shoulder.

“They got someone to do a study and apparently after so long doing things one way it’s hard wired into your brain.”

Ironically DeFilippi and two of his close mates, Ricky May and Jim Curtin, discussed the very scenario of missing the cup drive over a whip ban six weeks ago.

“They told me not to pull my stick out and to just slap them with the rein. I did leave the whip in the dust sheet on a few of my own horses but it’s not fair doing that when you’re driving for other owners.”

Heza Sport … the only good one DeFilippi has bred in 50 years of trying. PHOTO: Ajay Berry/Race Images.DeFilippi says he’s never been a big whip man and when he was on the Horsemens’ Association he suggested whips be redesigned to make them less severe. While this had been done since in thoroughbred racing, harness racing had not followed.

DeFilippi says there doesn’t appear to be any consistency in policing the new rule.

“The stewards seem to be more lenient in the North Island but down here they’re obsessed with it.”

DeFilippi acknowledges he made a tactical mistake in not sensing the possible severity of the charge when it was first laid.

“On the day I was pretty busy, I had a horse in. When they pulled me into the room I didn’t even know what it was for.

“I put my hand up and said, yeah, I made a mistake using more than my wrist, but I didn’t think much of it.

“I could have not pleaded to the charge and said I needed to talk to my lawyer.”

DeFilippi believes the relationship between drivers and the stipendiary stewards has never been worse.

“All they do is read the rule book at you, there’s no compassion. And they make mistakes, sometimes glaring ones.”

DeFilippi also believes there is an issue over who sits on the RIB panels and rules on the charges.

“They’re black and white. I’ve been in the room with Russell McKenzie 30 times on my own cases and helping juniors and you can’t beat him. I’ve never seen him go against the stipes.

“It’s supposed to be an independent judgement. I knew one guy who was the chairman who went against the stipes and he was never asked to do it again.”

* Tomorrow’s appeal will be heard in front of Alan Harper and Garry Thompson, both of whom are RIB Appeals Tribunal members only.