Stewards make right calls
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Photo:
Four Footed Fotos
It was a weekend of high profile racing across North America
with Grade 1 stakes races being contested from the Eastern Seaboard to the
Midwest to the West Coast. Purses worth up to a $1 million were on the line,
but awarding those purses to the correct winner was not always an easy task.
There were many runaway winners, but there were also photo finishes and
inquiries to sort through. When the dust settled after a fantastic weekend of
racing, some horsemen were on top of the world while others were shaking their
heads in disgust.
The disqualifying action began on Wednesday at Del Mar in
the feature race, the Green Flash Handicap, a five furlong turf sprint for 3-year olds and up. Post time
favorite Distinctiv Passion tried
his very best to take the field wire-to-wire but began to drift out in deep
stretch under left-handed urging. As he drifted out, he bumped Strong Wind causing jockey Gary Stevens
to steady him, giving Sirocco Strike
the opportunity to slip up and steal second place by a head.
After reviewing the film, the Del Mar stewards disqualified
Distinctiv Passion for interference and placed him third. Sirocco Strike was
given the win, and Strong Wind was moved up to second. The top 3 finishers were
separated by less than a length as they hit the wire, and Distinictiv Passion’s
interference cost his owners $45,120, the difference in purse money between 1st
and 3rd.
The very next day, the feature race was again subjected to
the stewards’ scrutiny. Race 7 at Del Mar on Thursday was a NW1$X for
three-year olds and up going 1 3/8 mile on the turf. Ten horses and geldings
showed up to contest the race, which awarded a nice $60,000 to the winner, and
with such a competitive field across the board, odds were nice as bettors could
not decide on a clear cut favorite. As the field went to post, the tote board
showed that Vibrato Jazz had won
favoritism at odds of 3-1. During the stretch drive, it looked as though the
bettors had gotten it right until the gray colt began to drift out under steady
left-handed urging with a sixteenth to go. To the colt’s outside, Affrettado
was closing furiously but had to check as Vibrato Jazz’s outward drifting
impeded his forward progress.
The Del Mar stewards deliberated the results for what seemed
like forever. As they deliberated, calracing.com showed replays of the race
from the side, from the head-on angle, and from the back. Even though Vibrato
Jazz was my pick for the race, even I had to admit that he deserved to come
down after shifting out so drastically. Before the stewards even made it
official, I knew he would be disqualified and placed second, and minutes later,
the stewards confirmed my suspicions. At 14-1, Affrettado paid his happy
backers $30.20/$12.20/and $6.60. The cost in purse money for Vibrato Jazz’s
connections? A cool $44,660, the difference between the win and place money.
Two days later and some 2,000 miles to the east, the G1 Arlington Million was decided in the
stewards’ booth for the third time since 2003. In large fields, some bumping
and knocking is to be expected, but The Apache took things to a whole new level during the stretch drive. The South
African invader found himself with a clear lead right past the midstretch
point, but Real Solution was closing
furiously on his outside. As the Ramsey owned colt drew on even terms with The
Apache, the latter drifted out, repeatedly bumping his foe in a bid to keep the
lead. At one point, Real Solution had his nose in front, but the steady bumping
and outward pushing eventually cost him, and The Apache crossed the wire a head
in front.
Immediately following the race, Alan Garcia, Real Solution’s jockey, lodged a protest against Christophe Soumillon, The Apache’s
jockey. After a long deliberation, the Arlington stewards disqualified The
Apache and placed him second for interference. Soumillon attempted to excuse
away The Apache’s outward drifting by asserting that The Apache had been scared
by the screen which had caused him to shift out. That might have held up if
Soumillon had made any effort to correct The Apache; however, Soumillon was
steadily using left-handed urging and never made an attempt to pull The Apache
back to the inside until after they had crossed the wire. For The Apache’s
connections, it was a $372,000 decision, or the difference between first and
second prize.
Many racing fans cried foul over this decision, some even
going as far as to declare that the disqualification had more to do with Real
Solution’s connections than any actual interference in the race itself. To that
I would say simply watch the head-on replay and you’ll see that the stewards
made the right call.
Sunday’s G2 Lake Placid Stakes for 3-year old fillies traveling 1 1/8 mile on the turf
wrapped up the weekend of races decided in the stewards’ room rather than on
the track. Long shot Nellie Cashman
upset the G3 Virginia Oaks in her previous start at odds of 19-1, and for the
second consecutive race, again upset a solid field when crossing the wire first
in the Lake Placid at odds of 20-1. This time, however, her win did not stand.
A head-on view of the stretch run showed Nellie Cashman first lugging out, then
drifting back in, and then lugging out once again despite being urged forward
under a right-handed whip.
Javier Castellano,
the jockey aboard 3rd place finisher Watsdachances, lodged a complaint following the race due to his
mount being carried out and then crowded between horses. After conducting an
inquiry, the Saratoga stewards took down Nellie Cashman and placed her third
for interference. Second place finisher Caroline Thomas was awarded the win, and Watsdachances was bumped from third to
second. Rosie Napravnik, who was
aboard the official winner, stated after the race that though she and her mount
were somewhat involved in the incident, she was confident that they weren’t
coming down because she was certain they had kept a straight path. The cost to
Nellie Cashman’s connections was $100,000, the difference between first and
third prize.
Too often stewards make calls that fans don’t understand or
are inconsistent from track to track or even from day to day. Horses are left
up that should be taken down, and sometimes, horses are taken down that should
have been left up. However, the stewards across the country were spot on and
consistent this week. In four different races at three different tracks, the
same situation cropped up and the same decision was made each time. The
unofficial winner drifted out impeding rivals and was consequently penalized
for interference. Out of those four races, I had no dog in the fight for two of
them, was on the losing end of the Vibrato Jazz decision, and was on the
winning side of the decision concerning The Apache. Regardless of how or if it
affected me, I agreed with the stewards each time, and this horse racing fan,
for one, was extremely pleased to see some consistency in race calling.
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