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Originally Posted by hockey2315
This seems like a strange rule to me. . . Is this how it is at all tracks?
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Some horse who recently won at Thistledown got DQ'd days after the race for not carrying the weight in the pre-race.
It's a lot of nonsense that has no effect on the outcome.
I can't think of another Graded Stake where a horse was DQ'd because of this - but I remember three situations in big races with pre-race complaints about the rider not carrying the weight.
I remember watching a replay of the inagural running of the Arlington Million that John Henry won - Lestor Piggott dismounted his seemingly calm filly and held up the start for a good bit, taking his sweet time while a few horses were in the gate and a few waiting to be loaded.
Pete Axthelm said on the network telecast he thought it was a clever move by an old vet like Piggott trying to gain an edge. He was on some European filly - and I'm sure there is no way in hell they would have DQ'd a filly had she won the Arlington Million.
I remember Coronado's Quest throwing Smith before a Florida Stake at Gulfstream and Lukas throwing a fit about the weight not being up on CQ in the warm-up.
There was also a situation where Bobby Frankel was complaining that Cigar was wearing illegal shoes (turndowns) before the Breeders Cup Classic he won at Belmont. While the riders were up on the other horses getting ready to go to the track - a racing offical was checking Cigar's shoes while Bailey was off - and you can hear riders screaming "get the weight up!"