Who's more incompetent: NYRA Stewards or Gabe Saez?
 

One of the most awful rides you'll ever see - and one of the most idiotic DQ's you'll ever see.

It was a real joy to watch all that happen!

Alan Garcia did ride a brilliant race - and that is actually the first time I've ever seen a rider get put up a placing who did that much race riding from the break to the 1/8th pole.

Can't get any worse than the NYC stewards. They get my vote by default. They proved their worth yet again today. Nice being able to continually **** UP and not having to answer to anyone.

Saez is a genius in comparison to any living Steward....

I'm a Music Note fan who thinks the filly would likely have won anyway, BUT.......the stewards are incompetent. Why did PS get DQ'd? I don't get it. I thought the stewards were out of their minds when they didn't DQ Monastic Springs a few weeks ago, even though he came over on at least two horses.

Had to know it wasn't Proud Spell's day when she put her nose to the ground coming out of the gate.

As if Music Note came away perfectly.

Music Note stumbled, too. I guess anytime an odds on favorite loses, there has to be a reason, but going into the race, MN was a legitimately talented horse.

Music Note very well could have won anyway - and I would have preferred her of the two at those prices.

But thats not the point - Saez put on an all-time masterpiece of stupid race riding - while Garcia rode Proud Spell for the first 8 furlongs - and after arguably fouling PS 3 different times at meaningful stages of the race - he somehow got put up for a late bump that had no impact at all on the finish.

The only thing I can think of is that NYRA Stewards wanted to punish Saez for what they viewed as mildly careless riding in the final 1/8th - even though it had no impact on the outcome and was VERY unfair to the betting public.

Do you consider Saez' ride lousy because he kept her to the inside? I always thought that if a jock assumed he was on the best horse, he'd rather be wide and in the clear........

He basically buried her from start to finish - and Garcia really did an amazing job of help making it the legendary bad ride it became. He deserves almost as much credit for Proud Spell's trip as Saez.

YEAH, Garcia pretty much exposed himself as a PUNK. Probably, 2nd only to Morales or Castellano given that ride. At some point, and it will be soon, Garcia will be BENT OVER by another jock, the way he bent Saez over today. Hope he takes as good as he gives and is as lucky as Saez was today (or Dominguez in the 4th, courtesy of Mr Castellano).

That is incredible that they took that horse down. There is not even a 1% chance that the incident changed the order of finish. Isn't the rule in New York the same as California? In California, they don't take a horse down unless the incident may have cost a horse a placing.

In a case like this, it is fine for them to give the jock days if they want to. But there is no reason to take the horse down.

My vote goes to the NYRA stewards.
Baffling.
Sort of the same idea of when I think it was Caroline's Cat got taken out at the start by the eventual winner and they let the winner stand.

you have to give it to the stewards, very bad takedown imo.

It was a bit odd. It seemed a clear case of Proud Spell being cut off right as they concluded the turn...then the horse also bore in in mid stretch initiating contact with Proud Spell...then Proud Spell gets dq'd after passing with east while drifting out?? Yes, I'm biased as I would have won money with a 2nd place finish by Proud Spell hitting exacta's et all...but no way was any finish affected by the jocks. Music Note was the best...maybe Proud Spell is within a length with a better ride by Saez...but Saez was badly cut off by Garcia.

I generally don't like to get involved in steward-bashing but their performance today was truly astonishing. They take Proud Spell down for an arguable foul that clearly had no impact on the outcome of the race (imagine being the place pool bridgejumpers that got taken down here), and yet they left Les Antiques (4th race) up for contact (crowding, bumping) that did appear to have an impact on the Frankel horse trying to get up the rail.

saez had a horrible day, but prolly has many big days ahead of him...
i almost feel bad for him after today, horrible,terrible ride on proud spell, and then in the next race, i think he just got outfinished and by rudy

i totally disagree, proud spell had about as much trouble as you can possibly have in a race, and i think she wins with a clean trip

It's possible. I'm just not sure she wins. I'm still just mad she got dq'd.

If there's a re-match in the Alabama, who do you take? I think Music Note would like the 10F distance better, and Proud Spell will be underlaid based on today's trip.