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Some days I'd love to be a judge

When I was at high school, I fancied the idea of being a lawyer, probably from watching too much LA Law. Once I got to uni I realised it was never going to happen and soon changed my career plans (which I then did a few more times before stumbling into the betting industry, an option I never thought possible as a youngster). All the paperwork and tedium of law put me right off it, not to mention the work involved when all I wanted to do was enjoy my first years in a big city.

But the idea of being a judge, having a platform to tell people they are fuckwits and should be punished for it is much more appealing. Particularly when their defence is simply pathetic and should be laughed out of court.

Take the front page of today's Racing Post, the case of experienced veterinarian James Main, who admitted injecting one of Nicky Henderson's horses with a banned blood-clotting agent on raceday back in 2009. Henderson was banned for three months as a result.

Main's case was "we didn't think we had administered anything terribly illegal" and claimed he was unaware of the rule which effectively bans anything other than feed and water on a raceday. This is a member of two BHA committees and a veterinary adviser to the British Trainers' Federation claiming to not to know of the most important rule in the book for a vet. And he claims to be deeply shocked and disappointed to have been struck off the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons register.

If you're that incompetent at knowing the framework of your job, then it's time you became a binman....

This case was heard by his industry body, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. One can only wonder how soft the penalty would have been if a racing body was hearing the case - "oh, that's ok, it's perfectly acceptable not to know how to do your job. If the rules weren't delivered to you by royal decree then obviously you can't be expected to have read them. Take a holiday for a couple of weeks and then come back and be your incompetent self again....."

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

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