Just listened to an interview with Chad Brown from sunday morning and he said that Tyler (Sierra Leone’s jock) was trying to make room to use his stick left handed. With that knowledge and looking at those head on pictures again, it does indeed look like that’s exactly what he was doing. He’s not really pushing Forever Young, he’s trying to see what clearance he has to use his stick and not hit the other horse. No room.
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at the end of the day, a jockey cannot legally do what Tyler did so if he didn’t get DQ’d I would at least expect him to get fined. Love to see two gutsy horses go at it and I am actually happy to see Sierra Leone get pushed back on; unlike the Remsen. Forever Young is a gutsy horse and I am happy to see him hold his ground. The Japanese contention has to be thrilled with how both horses performed. They definitely looked the part and trained the part.
Sierra Leone looks green to me. But his lugging in in the stretch is dangerous. Maybe he needs to start training on the outside of a rail horse in the morning and start working on his issues. He has all the talent in the world. I see him making the Belmont distance but his antics down the stretch could be dangerous if he’s not faced with a horse like FY who holds their own.
Great race. Surprised to see the pack so close at the top of the stretch. Talented group of three year olds.
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Pretty sure SLs team have been schooling the issue in the AM using the usual options and whatever else they could come up with.
We came up with pushing FY away, grabbing at a rein or trying to see if he could use his stick left handed (which is seen held in his left hand). What do you see and pronounce illegal?
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Did anyone happen to notice if Sierra Leone wore any special equipment, like a burr, to assist the rider in keeping him from lugging in? The cups on his blinkers appear to be equal size.
ETA: Looks like he has a flash. Wonder if anything else will be tried going forward since he seems rather dedicated to heading for the rail.
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I think there were grounds there for an inquiry - and for Sierra Leone to be set back/come down. No matter what the reason, the jockey is not to set hands on another horse - even if he was reflexively trying to push off/away and get more room. That is a foul.
Without all their bumping, IMO they would have caught Mystik Dan - Forever Young would have won and Sierra Leone placed.
But after the delay before the race was declared official, it seems the stewards saw nothing that they felt affected the race in any way.
Very gracious comment from Sakai - Forever Young’s jockey!
Gaffalione’s stick was right on Forever Young. Tyler said he lost his balance for a second.
Sierra Leone did the same thing to Dornoch back in the Remson at Aqueduct last fall…
But - that’s racing.
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I was rooting for you! Congratulations!
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Question: Has anyone seen any follow up on Fierceness’s dud performance? We can more or less draw some conclusions on our own so it isn’t a big mystery, but whenever a favorite has thrown in this much of a lame duck performance there have been at least a couple articles interviewing connections on the “what happened” aspect. Best I’ve seen is a few blurbs in an article where the connections of all (well, almost all) the entries offered next-day feedback.
I assume Fierceness didn’t get the start he wanted (he hopped out of the gate), wouldn’t rate when met and pressed by other eager pacesetters, and flattened. I’m just curious to hear a little more, like how he came out of the race, what the plan is for him from here, etc. It strikes me as a bit odd that the big favorite everyone was talking about is suddenly dropped from the news after a clunker.
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I’m not trying “to set policies for others”.
You asked a question and I answered it. Ribot died in 1972, no horses today by him are “closely related” to Dapper Dan. Dapper Dan was foaled in '62 had 2 full siblings, both fillies, in '68 and '69.
Dapper Dan stood at stud in japan and Europe.
In breeding, full siblings are considered close but once you’re backing up more than 5 generations horses aren’t considered to be closely related unless very inbred or very line bred.
Mystik Dan has no inbreeding in the first 5 generations.
I’m sure it’s fun for you and your barn mates to compare pedigrees. I wasn’t aware that Ribot was bred to Saddlebreds or TWHs. Very interesting, especially due to his temperament. 
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Forever Young and Sierra Leone do share a second dam – Darling My Darling – which is interesting!
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IDK if he was or not.
Now that you mention it, I’m wondering why NBC didn’t do a “what went wrong interview” with Fierceness’s people right after the race.
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I wasn’t aware that Ribot was bred to Saddlebreds or TWHs. Very interesting, especially due to his temperament.
How did you and your friends determine that their 2 TB horses and TWH horses and a Saddlebred were “cousins” through Ribot?
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I do not know if Ribot himself was bred to any Saddlebreds, but @ASB_Stars had a TB stud (his “sport horse” name was Nocturne, but I think his JC name was “Quail’s Rib”, or something similar) who was a descendant of Ribot, and I am pretty sure he was bred to at least one Saddlebred mare, and she was very pleased with the resulting foal. Nocturne was the sire of my (now deceased) Night Music, whom I had from a long yealing until she died at the age of 34. (She wasn’t part Saddlebred. HER dam was a TB x QH.)
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A decedent of Ribot is more understandable, I very much doubt if Ribot was bred to TWH or Saddlebreds.
I know nothing about TWH breeding and almost nothing about Saddlebred breeding in regard to TB infusions, and have never looked at any horse pedigrees in a manner that would be seeing “cousins” of a different breed.
The question put was “I wonder how closely Mystik Dan is related to Dapper Dan” and my answer was that he is not closely related.
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honestly I think Fierceness is a bit overrated. Maybe he will be better or more consistent later the year or as a four year old. He just looked tired to me and maybe the field was a bit overwhelming.
I watched him break his maiden at Saratoga last year. He is fast and talented but I am still struggling to understand how he was the clear betting favorite on Saturday given his post position and the field size. Think he got some dirt in his face and just never fired.
I hope Mystik Dan skips the next two triple crown races and points to something else. He is a beautiful mover with a tremendous mind. Despite his kindness, he is extremely gritty. Give him some R&R and come back to another G1. I think McPeek said they have tried racing him back to back before and it backfired. I think my favorite was him in his stall in the paddock; no tongue tie in simple tack; half asleep while everyone was just hanging out with him. Such a neat guy.
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I caught a bit of somebody saying he broke ok but not great, did get going but “got aggressive” when asked to settle and rate and never “got into it”. Was either on Fanduel or the Fox Americas day at the races program Sunday. Had it on in the background and just caught that remark by somebody in a short video clip.
Good examples of why you need more then a faster horse to win races.
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Here’s why I love racing:
I handicapped my pick (4- Catching Freedom) strategically because I liked his record. And since I’m not a risk-taker, I placed a small show bet on him. He placed 4th.
My sister, who is not a horse person, doesn’t follow racing, and was a little tipsy, picked Mystik Dan based on the name alone. She won $200. 
Next year I’m using her strategy!
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Even close relations might or might not matter, and it’s usually down to the dam when it does. Toussaud and Leslie’s Lady probably could have been bred to Anonymous by Perpetual Maiden out of Unaccomplished and still gotten stakes winners.
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