Updated: Vino Rosso's camp won't appeal Gold Cup DQ

The results of Saturday's Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) at Belmont Park, where Vino Rosso was disqualified from first and Code of Honor placed atop the running order, will remain as such.

After the race, a New York Racing Association steward said Todd Pletcher informed the decision makers that Vino Rosso's camp would appeal. But by Sunday morning, the Daily Racing Form's David Grening reported that no formal protest will be filed.

"I don't believe there will be an appeal," Pletcher later told the NYRA Press Office. "I spoke to both owners last night and they were sort of split. They agreed they would not appeal, but I plan to meet with the stewards today as well to get an explanation of what they saw. I didn't feel like I saw the same thing, but seldom in these appeal situations does anything ever come out of it."

Vino Rosso, a 4-year-old son of Curlin campaigned by Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable, will go on to the Nov. 2 Breeders' Cup Classic without a fees-paid "Win and You're In" berth as a result. He set the pace in the 1 1/4-mile Jockey Club Gold Cup but was taken down for moving out multiple paths and brushing with Code of Honor, the 3-year-old colt who wound up a nose behind at the wire.

"...He seems to be maintaining his form. He started out the beginning of the year going a mile, and we're counting yesterday, essentially, as a win. He's maintaining form and getting better all the time. We always felt that the older he got, the better he'd get and that seems to be the case."

Jockey John Velazquez filed an objection and stewards lit the inquiry sign after the race. Velazquez, also Vino Rosso's regular rider, elected to stay on the Travers Stakes (G1) winner Code of Honor, who could go to the Classic or remain in New York for a race like the Cigar Mile (G1).

New York Racing Association steward Braulio Baeza, Jr., in a meeting with reporters after the races Saturday at Belmont Park, has said “it wasn’t that hard” of a call to switch the Top 2 when making the race official.

Stewards put blame for the contact on Irad Ortiz Jr., who rode Vino Rosso.

“They could have corrected,” Baeza, Jr. said of Ortiz Jr and Vino Rosso. “After they made contact, he still used the crop again.”

The full stewards decision reads as follows:

"Jockey’s Objection and Stewards’ Inquiry into the stretch run. The rider of #2 Code of Honor (John Velazquez) claimed foul against the rider of #3 Vino Rosso (Irad Ortiz, Jr.) for interference in the stretch. The # 3 Vino Rosso drifts out several times under a left handed crop making contact and pushing him out. The number 2 Code of Honor comes back to lose by a nose. After reviewing the video and speaking to the riders involved, the #3 Vino Rosso is disqualified from first and placed second behind the #2 Code of Honor. The new order of finish is 2-3-1-4."

Rules cited by NYRA stewards:

"With regard to interference, New York is a 'Category 2' state, meaning that commission rules provide that if the interferer is guilty of causing interference and such interference in the judgment of the Stewards has altered the finish of the race, then the interferer is placed behind the offended horse. 

"The Stewards consider whether the riders of the horse or horses that are offended continue to give effort to the finish of the race. 

"The Stewards also consider whether the offending jockey acted in a willful or careless manner while interfering with another horse or jockey, for which the interferer may be disqualified, i.e., placed last or unplaced in the order of finish. For example, if an offending jockey acts in a dangerous manner, exhibits extremely improper riding or impedes several horses, the Stewards may disqualify the offending horse without regard to the specific effect of the foul on the order of finish."