Video: Luther is debatably promoted to win at Saratoga

A bottleneck at the back of the pack in the first turn led to a controversial disqualification of first-place finisher Zulu Kingdom and the promotion of late-running Luther to the victory Friday in the Grade 2, $400,000 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes at Saratoga.

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The contentious incident involved Zulu Kingdom, Tiz Dashing and Luther, the three trailers early in the one-mile, inner-turf race for six 3-year-olds. Ridden by Javier Castellano, Tiz Dashing (20-1) bore inward and pinched Luther (9-5) and his jockey Joel Rosario against the rail. Flavien Prat and post-time favorite Zulu Kingdom (4-5) were about a length clear but veering inward at the time of the contact between the other two colts.

“It cost me a lot going into the first turn,” said Rosario, who made the objection, which sent stewards into a hearing that lasted more than 10 minutes. “In the first turn it looked like I got there, and I got some room to get inside there, and it looked like (Zulu Kingdom) dropped in. There was another horse (Tiz Dashing) on the outside of me, so when he dropped over there, there was no room after that. I thought for a second my horse was going down. There was no room in there. He got out of there, put it all together and ran a good race after that.”

“I thought I was clear,” Prat said. “I had two horses inside of me that were battling for the same spot, and I took the blame.”

Stewards decided Zulu Kingdom caused the trouble.

“After reviewing the video evidence and speaking to the riders involved, the stewards determined that no. 7 Zulu Kingdom does continue to make a gradual shift to the inside on his way to the first turn,” New York Racing Association steward Víctor Escobar said. “As he continues on to the inside, he leaves insufficient room to the horses to his inside including both 3 Tiz Dashing and no. 2 Luther, who both suffered significant interference as a result of it. Both horses lost significant ground and made up sufficient ground to satisfy that it did affect the outcome of the race. As a result, we opted to disqualify no. 7 and place him (in fourth) behind the 3.”

After finishing first by 1 1/2 lengths, Zulu Kingdom was demoted to fourth. Luther, who also clipped heels with Mi Bago (12-1) just after the start and was forced by Clever Again (7-1) to check in the second turn, rallied to cross the line second. He, third-place Clever Again and fourth-place Tiz Dashing were moved up one place each. Mi Bago set the pace before fading to fifth, and Tank (14-1) came home last.

Luther is a Great Britain-bred and based Frankel colt who made his second U.S. start for owners Paul Hickman and Nicholas Jones and trainer Charlie Fellowes. He finished third July 4 in the 1 1/8-mile Belmont Derby Invitational (G1) at Saratoga. With the promotion he paid $5.70, $4.30 and $3.40. Clever Again returned $8.30 and $7.60. Tiz Dashing paid $9.70 to show.

“I’m a bit confused to how we won it, if I’m completely honest,” Fellowes said by phone from England. “I don’t know what just happened, but I’m shocked. I was watching here from home and it was difficult to see exactly what happened, but I could see that it was a really messy race, and my fella got carved up a little early on, then rushed up into position. He really ran an unbelievable race to finish second, considering all of that. Had he had a smooth trip, jumped out well and maintained a position behind the lead, he would have legitimately won it on his own.” 

The final time for Zulu Kingdom was 1:35.06 after Mi Bago clicked off early fractions of 23.01, 47.56 and 1:13.40 on the firm turf.