Stewards' Bolt d'Oro, McKinzie decision 'unanimous'
Darrel McHargue, chief steward for the California Horse Racing Board, said Saturday that the decision to disqualify McKinzie and award a victory in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes to Bolt d'Oro was "unanimous."
McKinzie crossed the wire at Santa Anita Park a head in front of Bolt d'Oro after the two made contact at two junctures, first leaving the turn and again closer to the finish. It was the latter bump, when McKinzie moved out from the rail and into his rival, that led to the ruling.
"The shots that were shown were inconclusive as to who initiated the contact at the head of the stretch," McHargue said. "So they couldn’t be clear on any one horse. The incident inside the sixteenth pole was clear.
“McKinzie, number four, came out under a left handed whip and shifted number one, Bolt d’Oro, out, off his path and cost him a better placing. The margin of win was only a head so therefore, McKinzie was taken down."
Javier Castellano rode multiple Grade 1 winner Bolt d'Oro for the first time Saturday. Mike Smith kept the mount on McKinzie, who entered unbeaten in three starts, but also the beneficiary of another stewards decision in December when moved up in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity.
“That’s some bulls---," said McKinzie's trainer, Bob Baffert. "Javier had a better story, I guess. I’m shocked, after the way he hit us at the top of the stretch. I don’t know what they’re looking at, but apparently he talked them into it. That’s why they should never talk to the jockeys, just watch it themselves.”
Baffert was also displeased with how much time transpired between the end of the race and when it was made official -- upwards of 10 minutes.
"I was just trying to ride my own race and he was on top of me," Smith said of Castellano leaving the turn. "At the quarter pole, after the quarter pole and through the lane he hit me and turned me out. I mean he’s got the whole racetrack and he’s on top of me on the fence.
"...I didn’t feel that I did anything," Smith said of racing closer to the wire. "I was forced out. He hit me hard behind and it took me out. It turns you out."
"They say he tried to intimidate my horse and that is why I couldn’t get past him," Castellano added about the stewards. "I wish it would’ve just been the two horses running straight in the race. We were the best two horses in the race. I just want to see who the better horse is.”
Bolt d'Oro will remain in California for the Santa Anita Derby, while Baffert said McKinzie could "go out of town" for his final prep. The rematch may have to wait until the May 5 Kentucky Derby.