I don't know.

:D :D
that is quite funny!

Exactly.....we could have an Andy segment. "Stupid Steward Screwups"....brought to you by "NYRA rewards"....eclipse awards would have to be added ......great stuff!!

You got a 4 horse race, and 3 out of the 4 stumble, two almost to the knees.
What the heck?
Did a little ground squirrel get in the dirt and root around in the ground in that gate?

the new york race fixing racket's newest member is a Groundhog.

Doesn't say a whole lot for Alan Garcia when he can't get a job done without help from Punxsatawny Phil

Well, I couldn't of cared less who came 1st-2nd-3rd in this race, but I was in a Vegas sportsbook watching it all go down. At the time, my sole conclusion from what took place was the stewards were playing homers. Garcia obviously shut this horse off badly coming into the stretch, and so( for Proud Spell to come 2nd) it's pretty obvious Proud Spell was much better than Garcia's horse. Either you care who was the better horse, or you don't. Anyone watching that race could see that Proud Spell was atleast 2nd best, and the incident in the stretch didn't cost anyone a placing. The only reason they would do this is to help out a rider who is normally riding the NYRA tracks. They didn't do it to help horseplayers out. 99% of the people betting that race know Proud Spell was atleast 2nd best on the day. As far as I am concerned, the 2 calls early on the Thursday Hwd Park card were both incorrect as well. To be honest, I think there was personal bias in all three calls. The 1st one on Thursday was payback for Nakatani saying the stewards didn't know what they were doing(last weekend when he thought he should of got put up in a stakes.) The 2nd one was an amazing no call on an apprentice repeatedly allowing a horse to keep coming out on a horse on the turn, the top of the stretch, the middle of the stretch, and in deep stretch. Exactly how much further did the outside horse have to run to avoid the horse who simply keeps coming out threatening to come over? You really think a horse is gunna go by a horse that keeps coming over on it that way? I'm sure he is a nice kid, but overlooking that (just so the kid can keep his 1st win ever at the track) is pretty pathetic.

On that one, I thought they got it right. Most of the problems were not caused by Monastic Springs, but by the horse that finished second (drifted causing chain reaction in which MS was involved).

I think the fatman secretly has a crush on Prado and a few other jocks.


Fatman and Prado sittin in a tree...................

Just watched the replay, that was maybe the worst DQ I've ever seen. An absolute crime to take her down, the 3 lugging in coming off the turn almost sent her over the rail!!!! HOW THE F DO YOU PUT THE 3 UP AFTER THAT?!?!? F*CK!

i agree, the word CRIME came to my mind as well. i don't recall a more baseless action by the stewards.

It is overwhelming to read all the negative posts about every aspect of thoroughbred racing at NYRA tracks. Makes me think of the worst bullrings in Mexico. Yet, NY racing, as written in national publications, is the best racing in the US. Hmmm.

From Steve Crist formblog

"I would prefer to see the stewards exercise their judgment"

Man he has a lot more faith in the stewards and their judgement then I do rather then a "foul is a foul" mentality.

Was the horse better than the 3rd place finisher? Yes.

Did it cost the 3rd place horse a better placing? No.

If they want to punish Saez for what took place, then fine, but I don't understand this decision to d.q. Atleast in the 2 races at HWD (on Thursday) it wasn't nearly as obvious who was the better horse (on the day.)

Agree on both points- That should be the determination of whether a horse gets disqualified or not, end of story.

Harsh words!!! You fail to mention that if this was the 70's Saez would have been swimming in the lake by the time they got through with him.

Face it. Garcia rode a brilliant race. If I owned a nag, I'd want to see that instead of opening up a red carpet for another jock. It's a Grade 1, not Mr's Smithers finishing school.

I'm very late on this, but I didn't think Saez's ride was worth this much ink...The stumble probably hurt him more than trying to squeeze up the rail. I think Mccaron's ride in the Preakness on Touch Gold IMO was worse. Just off the top of my head of one that comes to mind.

I think the NYRA Stewards were paying Mclaughlin back for missing a very nasty incident a couple of weeks ago when Cornelio was bumped and practically put a Mclaughlin/Garcia horse over the rail. Garcia claimed foul, they called the race official before he got off the horse. I know there was a hearing about it. Not that Saez didn't deserve something for that ride but I agree I don't think it was all that critical.

You think they're going to move Never Retreat up in a Grade I race to compensate them for "missing" something that occurred in a maiden race to a first-time starter that McLaughlin saddled for a totally different owner??