First, so glad that all horses and jocks came home safe when that could have been catastrophic!
The Wests have to be the classiest horse owners on the planet, well done!
Even though the rules state that any jock can cry foul, it leaves a very bad taste in my mouth that Country Houses’s connections did it when they were not interfered with in the race and stood to gain the most.
Maximum Security was clearly the best horse that day. we will see if he can go on to win either the Preakness or the Belmont. I don’t think Country House can.
The stewards got the call right; there was interference, but I thought the rule is , if unintentional, ( looked like MS just spooked a bit), then a foul is given, not a DQ. Perhaps someone with more knowledge can enlighten me about this rule. What kind of penalty does an unintentional interference usually incur?
I get that there is 145 years of tradition involved, but how about limiting the field to a smaller number. I know that won’t prevent all accidents, but it might help.
Why were the Derby races initially limited to 3 year olds? Wouldn’t running 4 yr olds make more sense? More time to grow and get their brains a bit more mature?
And racing is serious about it’s rules. It’s not the Omak stampede out there.
I dipped my beak in Twitter yesterday–always a scary thing-- and a couple of points stood out–a lot of people either didn’t know or didn’t care that 1) the stewards don’t work for the track so this was not Churchill’s decision; 2) that the rules are specific to Kentucky so what ever happened at some BC race in Santa Anita or the 5th at Aqueduct is irrelevant; and 3) official racing takes bets under a paramutual system. It doesn’t matter if Country House was 65 - 1 or 3-5. The house has no incentive to put one up over the other --and it doesn’t have a say anyway.
I am very thankful for all the replies here. I was upset yesterday with the outcome of the race. The coverage made it seem like CH"s connections were the only ones lodging a protest, and that did seem like sour grapes to me.
I think the seriousness of interfering with the progress of the other horses and the rule against not staying in your lane could have been better explained to the public. I think the stewards made the right call here considering the potential consequences.
I was wondering if Saez could have avoided the swerve? It would be no surprise to me that such a green horse would spook at such enormous crowds but how do you train for that or ride for that?
You are talking 100 year old history and that is another place and another day. Speaking as someone who actually races in California, my Calbreds can’t necessarily just relocate. Losing California and the money collectively in California from owners who don’t have graded stakes horses would cripple the breeding industry.
Tyler made a mistake in trying to swing wide into a hole that was not really there. Code of Honor then went up the rail and actually stuck his head in front for a brief moment. What if Tyler would have stayed on the rail a few more strides? He could have been 3 in front in the blink of an eye.
Going out on a limb: over the past decade, we have trended to less and less preparation going into the Kentucky Derby. I mean this in the sense of racing experience: 20 years ago, no one would have taken a horse with only four career starts seriously in the derby. People thought it was insane that Barbaro could come into the Kentucky Derby with only five lifetime starts and a long layoff… now his pathway has become the new norm. Nearly half the field had five or less starts on Saturday.
We’re putting increasingly greener horses into a situation unlike anything else they will face in their careers. There is no other time they will be in a 20 horse stampede amid one of the greatest parties on Earth.
I don’t think it’s a total coincidence that War of Will and Long Range Toddy were able to avoid disaster given that they were the two most experienced racehorses in the entire field.
I worry that we are going to see more and more “green” moments with the current trends. Yet I also don’t know what the solution is; regulations can’t fix this. Telling a trainer they need to make X number of starts before the Kentucky Derby is absurd. It will accomplish nothing and could also unintentionally lead to over-racing our young horses, which isn’t any better. My feeling is that it’s up to the horse racing community to better police themselves in this area; nothing can replace actual racing experience when it comes to combating greenness.
Saez was doing a fantastic job of holding the horse on the rail to keep anyone from cutting the corner and getting the jump on him. As a jockey, you can’t really avoid things like that swerve. He was riding forward, and was probably lucky to maintain his balance and mostly keep control of the horse. Jockeys have about half the ball of the foot and a few toes in the stirrup, so balance is easily compromised. I’m sure the trainer was thinking that he should have stuffed the horse’s ears. You try to predict everything that can go wrong, and then you pray.
Not comparing myself in any way to a professional jockey, but when I think of the number of times I have found myself lying on the ground after a green horse’s spook, I don’t think even a pro can train or ride for that.
Oh, dear, now I am reading that MS’s connections might be reconsidering a decision to appeal the decision of the stewards. I sure hope not–it is ugly and miserable as it is, and that would just drag everything out into uglier and more miserable.
Put those there, just in case someone needs to see it.
Yes. I think you are very right. But War of Will is a fine horse. If he can DANCE that well at 40+ mph, I think he’ll sire some fine dressage horses. But that’s to be seen.
Your first paragraph is apples and oranges. Two different issues with no connection at all.
Bill Mott did not exaggerate what happened. Just because EVERYBODY didn’t go down, doesn’t mean it wasn’t bad. Don’t you care about safety? And but for WoW’s quick footwork, LOTS of horses and riders would have gone down. I hope he got a bushel full of carrots and apples that evening. (We all know what horses value!)
NO. The race was not stolen from him. He blew the race when he swung out and impeded other horses. Don’t like it? Read my first paragraph which states the rule. If you sign up to play, YOU SIGN UP TO PLAY BY THE RULES.
I can’t believe some of the things I’ve been reading here. Fer Cryin’ Out Loud, It’s Horse Racing. You pays your money and you takes your chances. As far as the horse-ignorant public is concerned – Well, they call it gambling for a reason! Easy to cry and yell when you think your sure thing winning ticket – isn’t.
For horsemen – I’ll say it again. If you sign up to play, YOU SIGN UP TO PLAY BY THE RULES. Jockeys especially, have every right under the sky to expect the stewards to uphold actions that affect their safety in races. I don’t care who reports it because IT DOESN’T MATTER.
Max ran well, but he made a bad mistake and it cost him a big win. The Derby is a bad race to make that sort of mistake, but guess what? Sh!t happens in racing – Even in the Derby. Because horses.
I didn’t see that part, but any booing was uncalled for. If you value the win and the money more than Jockey and horse safety, IMO, that makes you a pretty bad person.
I too was sorry to be Maximum Security taken down. However I cannot imagine how his DQ can be considered detrimental to racing when the stewards followed the rules to reach this outcome. Had they not followed those rules, millions of people would have (rightly) cried foul.
This from a BloodHorse article by Bill Finley:
“Here’s the Kentucky Racing Commission rule: “A leading horse if clear is entitled to any part of the track. If a leading horse or any other horse in a race swerves or is ridden to either side so as to interfere with, intimidate, or impede any other horse or jockey, or to cause the same result, this action shall be deemed a foul.””
MS was much the best horse in the race but–under the rules of racing–that didn’t matter. Once he went sideways and impeded other horses, he eliminated his own chances. That wasn’t Bill Mott’s fault. It wasn’t Flavian Prat’s fault. And it wasn’t Country House’s fault. Maximum Security took himself out of the running.
That rule is in place for the express purpose of keeping both horses and jockeys safe. So to me it seems hard to argue that it ought to be applied subjectively.
ETA: Sparrowette, we posted at the same time–and said much the same thing.
My initial reaction to the inquiry was “oh no” Country House was not bothered - even Jockey admitted such - that he had a clear path. And I was so impressed with the overall race run by MS. But the more I watched the video shots, and when I later read that Toddy’s jockey also filed complaint and calmly read the rules this am, I’m now believing it was the right decision. Sucks for MS team but then s*** happens.
Quite frankly when I saw the horse veer out during the race, I thought he was done and others would go by him. The fact that he was first over the finish with decent lead says a lot about the capability of him.
I was very confused with the disqualification, and since I don’t know that much about racing, except as a spectator. The entire dust up was mind boggling. However, after seeing the slow motion of the interference, and an explanation of what could have happened if the horses went down, I think it was absolutely the right call by the stewards.
Honestly, if the horses had gone down in a mass fall yesterday, with jockeys flying I think it would have led to a huge outcry against any type of horse racing. The MS crew is quoted as saying they’re appealing, and if that’s not upheld, then they’re going to court. That is classless, and the sore loser action.
It would be interesting, though; I don’t think they have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning it, but if they did, how would the money be handled? All the bets have been paid out.
