If they deemed it enough to warrant a DQ, he had to go behind Long Range Toddy.

We just simply need to move the Derby to New York. Or, have the NY Stewards officiate the Derby day card.

It was unexpected because of the magnitude of the situation but I honestly felt like it was the right call. Using the argument that we’ve seen worse allowed to stand is, in my opinion, the wrong argument.

I bet the 5, so no agenda. I'll just say that I would have swapped my win ticket for a win ticket on War of Will prior to the incident. He was looking like a winner to me. Totally killed his momentum.

Here is a link to the stewards statement concerning the Derby DQ: https://www.pscp.tv/w/1MnGnvbXmNMGO

Just as I thought, their statement didn't not take into consideration the state of the track. This is a gross oversight as far as I am concerned. Perhaps, the written report will address it, but I wouldn't count on it. It appears that they neglected to take all of the conditions that led to the interference into consideration. Racing could do well to free itself of such short-sighted officiating.

Fair enough. My point, though it appears to have been missed, is that you are making the case to enforce an arbitrary penalty on a horse that did something literally every single horse does in its position over a sloppy track on the one day the world is watching. In stunned silence. This is no admission of " we've seen worse allowed to stand". WoW was admittedly stopping. MS slid, not "drifted" in front of a stopping horse - thus The winning horse gets placed 17th. That doesn't help anyone. Right or Wrong.

Sorry my friend but this was a bad call

I don’t think it was arbitrary at all. It was a judgement call and one thing I have not seen is anyone dispute the fact that the winner interfered with those two horses. I think that in a situation like this, you have to break it down to one or two questions:

1. Did he interfere with the other horse? If you answer no, end of story. If you answer yes, you move on to question two.

2. Did he cost the horse he interfered with a placing? If you answer no, end of story. If you answer yes, you have no choice but to place him behind that horse.

I also don’t think you can say every other horse would do that. He was the only one that I saw do it today. Those other horses weren’t sliding out. Also, his jockey didn’t say anything about the horse losing his footing. He talked about the horse reacting to the noise of the crowd and that being the cause of him getting out. For me, track condition isn’t a reasonable excuse.

I really think they should of tried to get some of that standing water off the track. That being said, if you you want to run the biggest 3 year old race of the year on that surface, then, I think they should only take the winner down if they think he wasn't best. Horses aren't gunna be able to stay that straight running on that surface.

Actually, before MS did his dance, WOW bumped LRT, who bumped Bode, who bumped Improbable, as he was trying to create seam to run through.

Not sure if the Gaffilione quote is out of context. Why would he say he was out of horse if the War of Will was still contending for the win in deep stretch?

^^^ I'm on this page.

I had no financial interest here, I bet Game Winner. The reality is he fouled War of Will AND started a chain reaction with the 18 AND sent Code of Honor into the rail all within the same 100 yards. He HAD to come down. There was no gray area with regard to the rule. War of Will finished 8th and I'm 100% certain he would have finished better than that if he was not fouled- the rule is if you foul someone and the horse that's fouled has been compromised on potential for finishing higher you get taken down. End of story. If this was the 1st on a Monday at Parx like you said, it would not even be debatable and we would be turning the page. The stewards did the right thing not just for the result but for the safety of the game.

That's the point though. We don't know if he would have gotten 2nd or 3rd or even 4th or 5th, because he was fouled and affected the outcome.

Once the DQ is decided on, it doesn't matter whether the "winner" ends up being a horse that was probably not going to win- the horse taken down gets placed behind the one it affected (which the stewards correctly determined was Long Range Toddy.)

The 18 also claimed foul.

This is the only two questions that matter, and the answer is unequivocally yes to both. Forget about the winner. That is not the question at hand, even if you think he was bulletproof to win after that (I don't, but doesn't matter.) It's the interference that caused the other two to finish in lower positions than they would have had this not happened. Easy DQ.

I hadn't seen this video in slow motion. After seeing this, I can see why they took him down. I still need to watch some more video. But after seeing this one, I think the decision is understandable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jwy9m9oDg0

Didn't see the inquiry sign when the 3 horse on Friday almost ran Pletcher's horse off the course right out of the gate.
If Pratt doesn't claim foul ,when he even states on TV that he really wasn't bothered, I bet the stewards wouldn't have even looked at the race.

Which was publically acknowledged only about 4 hours after the race? Why not immediately?

Glad I wasn’t the only one to notice this. Not downplaying the sequence of events, but if the 1 doesn’t try and force his way into space, the chain reaction doesn’t occur.

All three of these yahoos were emphatic that there should be no disqualification while they were waiting for the decision and reviewing the replays. The horse gets taken down and suddenly they change their tune ?

I thought the same thing. At first I thought it was a terrible call. But I hadn't seen this angle in slow motion. When you see this angle in slow-mo, it makes it much tougher to fault the stewards' decision. I think once Bailey and crew saw this video, they realized the stewards' decision was defensible.

I think some consideration should have been applied to War Of Will trying to thru a hole that wasn't there. However MS did veer out. I think by rule they had no choice.

Only question now is "Does Saez retain the mount?"

Im a newer (ex fan) of horseracing I've been following this site and this bullshit game since 2015 (full disclosure i needed maximum security to hit the P5 and nice oaks/derby double) I'm done with horseracing for good now. I loved it, i taught myself how to the read the forms, i go-to keeneland every April and October since 2016. I told evryone i had at my house that they were taking the horse down as soon as Mott started chirping. They didnt want servis winning that fing thing PERIOD. Im done with this bullshit game for good! This game can't get out of its own easy. And good luck getting "new fans" I'll spend my Saturday afternoons doing other things. This game is a dying relic and that decision will be looked back on more and more of these tracks start closing. If that was baffert or pletcher or anyone besides the guy they think is a huge cheater that horse would've stayed up. I've had some very bad breaks gambling on this bullshit and I'm not going to do it again. Take care

This slo-mo shows even more clearly how Long Range Toddy had to check:

https://twitter.com/NBCSports/status...7Ctwgr%5Etweet

See ya!

Good job handicapping...but sometimes bad luck strikes. Take a couple days to calm down and let us know who you like in the Preakness.

Let’s be honest. Almost all the people who are allegedly done with racing will be back.

Exactly. They’ll be back in 2 weeks or sooner.

Easy for you to say i read where you said you had the #20 if that was baffert or pletcher that horse stays put. Its hard enough picking winners etc. I get over things fairly easy ill be over horse racing by next week. I spend to much time anyways handicapping, betting, watching. I'll miss going to keeneland with the wife besides that i won't miss wondering from here on out if i do hit a winner will it come down because the stewards dont happen to like certain trainers. That point is the #7 was the best and no-one was going by him

Didn’t say I was done. Just sitting out for a bit. I’m tired
of the inconsistencies of stewards decisions. I’ve seen too much
of it in the past year. Just gonna take a little time to get over it. Heck even
the President tweeted it was a bad decision. Lol

Well if that guy tweets it, it’s gotta be true!

So Kentucky stewards don’t like Jason Servis? For what reason?

Don't know, don't give a **** enough to go back and forth with you.

That’s how I knew it was the right call ;)

I’m being sincere here, a DQ sucks and I’d be pissed too. But I also know when I get DQd I’m probably a bit biased when I rant afterwards. I’ve been DQd for big scores and it never gets an easier. I wish there was some consistency and on the bright side I think we do have it sort of in NY.

Listen if you want to stop betting horses because of this go for it. But pretending the horse got DQd because the stewards don’t like the trainer is silly.

I agree Hoss. It just stings. Was having a bad day wagering and that exacta
wouldve gotten me my money back. But as you said it’s happened before and will likely happen again. Feel bad for the connections of the horse. It cost them a whole lot more.

The greatest thing about this whole event was it has brought the old posters like DaHoss, Rudeboyelvis...I would love to get Morty's take on this :)

It is easy for me to say, but I also said midrace before I even knew the results that he came over hard (which you’ll just have to take my word for.) It’s a tough situation. No one wants the results of the Derby to be determined by the stewards...but I think they made the right call.

Maybe some Sumitas mixed in?

He’s still fixated on Golden Missile :eek:

They kissed me up, but that call stunk. 19 hoss field in the mud is gonna produce contact. Gafflione had no business making that move. He was up his asss the whole backstretch too.

I was against it (the DQ) before I was for it. Still hate that it happened at all.