Woah!
Mandaloun names winner by DQ. Hot Rod Charlie with steering issues in the stretch and cut off Midnight Bourbon causing a hard stumble and rider fall.
Midnight Bourbon looked okay when they showed the outsider collecting him. I haven’t seen any updates on Paco Lopez, MB’s jockey. That was a hard fall and it looked like Antigravity maybe didn’t totally clear him.
Prayers.
I read an article where Lopez said he is fine. He got kicked by Midnight Bourbon and has minor injury to a knee and ankle. Lucky that everyone is OK!
Prat mentioned that being able to use a crop would have possibly prevented the incident.
I was wondering the same thing. So lucky that there wasn’t a more serious accident. Really wanted Charlie to win, but so glad that everyone came out of the race okay. From the replays that was really scary.
Glad everyone was okay!
I heard rumblings on social media about this proving that jockeys need whips. If Flavian feels that way I believe him!
Midnight Bourbon, who fell in Saturday’s Haskell, has some scrapes and abrasions, but X-rays and ultrasounds came back clean, per Asmussen. Horse vans back to Saratoga on Monday. No immediate plans as far as next start
Paco… he won the first race today on Mohs by 10. Those jockeys are tough!
They are tough, and good sports as well.
Speaking of good sports, how about HRC’s owner:
Owner Strauss accepted the disqualification with a great amount of sportsmanship.
“Flavien has a good left hand and right hand so maybe if he hit him lefthanded, he could have straightened him out, but that’s not what happened,” Strauss said. "Nobody else out there could use a whip, so it’s not an excuse. It’s a level playing field that cost us the race.
“I haven’t seen a replay but I’m sure it’s the right call if the stewards made it,” he added. “It’s disappointing but welcome to the world of horse racing. I hope (Lopez) is OK and (Midnight Bourbon) seems fine. As long as there’s no injury to a human or an animal it’s fine. We’ll live to fight another day and so will they. We’ll come back and get them next time. ‘Charlie’ always gives us his best. I’m so proud of him.”
Quite a contrast to certain other owners.
Yes, very refreshing.
I’ve always thought that in any competition, good sportsmanship is important. Some people are taught to be good sports by their parents and apparently some aren’t.
Class
Thanks for sharing this quote. This is what the sport needs more of!
Midnight Bourbon is certainly feeling OK.
Monmouth stewards took ‘forever’ to decide what to do about Pratt and the move of Hot Rod Charlie across the path of Midnight Bourbon causing Midnight Bourbon to stumble badly, dislodging Paco Lopez. When I was watching the race, I thought Midnight Bourbon had broken down.
Stewards today (when they said they would) have issued a 7-day suspension for Pratt conveniently starting the day after Del Mar closes and ending the day before Santa Anita opens (Pratt is based in So Cal).
Pratt believes that he could have prevented Hot Rod Charlie’s drive if he could have provided left-handed encouragement with his crop. Although, would this not have been a case of ‘safety measure’ to keep the drift from happening?
Monmouth suspended Carlos Montalvo for using the whip on a known bad actor for safety reasons, ignoring his explanation that the horse was running out., https://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/montalvo-fines-suspended-for-whip-use-at-monmouth/ I think jockeys will hesitate to use the whip at all now at Monmouth.
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