Saratoga 5th - No DQ?
 

How in the world do they not take down the 2 - Pelican Lake?

It was better for me that he stayed up, but damn, that seemed pretty obvious.

B/c Bond needed a win.

They have no idea what the hell they're doing. When the jockeys get on the phone with them there might as well be a monkey on the other end.

Home vs. Away team.

Doesn't bother me because Plesa has a knack for burning my tickets up. Why he's at Toga can be chalked up to delusions of grandeur.

I can't dispute the fact that the 7 was likely not running better than 4th. However, if we're at a point where the only criteria for a DQ is whether it cost the affected party a placing then what's stopping jockeys from plowing into tired horses left and right? That's how injuries happen.

That was a ridiculously terrible non-call.

NT

But some people on this board say that's crazy, that "stewards don't work like that." ;)

Oh sure they don't. They are professionals. :D

The incident on the turn had absolutely no impact on the outcome of the race.

Why punish the bettors who played an 8/1 winner that was clearly best? Why punish the owner who paid all of the training bills?

Fine the jockey and give him days and be done with it. The idea that doing this will somehow lead to injuries is nonsense.

If that's your POV that's fine, it's consistency that bettors want

The precedent has been set, let's hope no one gets hurt out there and decisions will be consistent from here on in. If they do DQ someone for something similar you can bet the bettors will remember this day.

Yes - you prefer consistency ... although if the winner does that - and the horse it fouls is beaten a head for 3rd place .. it's a DQ because it cost a horse a placing...and than you feel the pain of the bettor who played the best horse at 8/1 - or the owner who paid 2K a month in training bills and gets placed 4th with the best horse.

If the incident has no impact at all on the outcome in any way shape or form ... don't change it and fine the jockey and give him days.

If anything I would have DQ'd Bridgmohan just for riding so pathetically, he had the best horse in the race, but he negotiated the turn/split like a 10lb apprentice would. For a journeyman jock that has been around as long as he has, it was not a good effort.

His caliber?

There are about 4.5 jocks in the country who can make a positive impact most of the time. After that you have another several hundred meat and potato guys spread throughout the country who - in general - aren't separated by much ability wise...they're merely separated by the opportunities they get.

After that class, you have the guys who could stop the Yankees.

No factor in handicapping is more overrated than the jockey factor.

It's about consistency. It's about maintaining a straight course. These are things that used to matter to the stewards in NY. There have been DQs on this circuit for infractions that were significantly less severe.

I'm no jockey but I would think that a horse being swung out into another horse knocking that one off stride is a great way for a jockey to fall off. Or is that nonsense?

NT

The difference between Leparioux and The Boogyman is infantesimal when you watch Julien's ride in the 7th, he almost never panics, he waited for room on the turn and the horse won. If that was the Boogyman he would have side wiped a few horses just desperate to get out in time.

Nevermind the fact you're comparing a turf route to a dirt sprint but don't let that stop you...nothing ever does so why start now?

Have you watched him on turf? I recognize the difference in surfaces but that is minutia in the discussion of a patient ride and a panicked one.

Definitely. The only time I look is when the horse I'm considering has a horrendous rider... I feel like they can move a horse down way more easily than the other way around.

What does the severity of the foul matter if it obviously had no impact on the outcome of the race?


I agree that he should be fined and should get days. It's typically when the horse that has more run is kept in where big trouble happens. Not from something like that.

So Bridgmohan panicked? That's good to know.

The way his horse was moving if he had waited then he more than likely would have to pull the reins and that is almost certain death in a dirt race at that point in the race.

In a turf ROUTE it's a completely different story.