Quote:
Originally Posted by MaTH716
It really came apart at the seams so quickly. She broke a step slow and she was last instantly. I thought that JV gave her about a 1/4 of a mile to try to get her stride going, but it just never happened. Not sure what else he was supposed to do after the slow break, quarter horse her to the lead?
IMO, JV was in a no win situation and I have no fault with him.
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But who takes the blame then? That is the question that no one seems to be able to answer. The person BEST suited to tell the condition of the horse once they are on the racetrack is the jockey. I'm not saying that he wasn't in a difficult position but once he said that the horse wasn't warming up properly AND he didn't alert the vets in charge of his feelings AFTER he has already told a national TV audience, well isn't he really the only one who could have made a difference? And I am not suggesting that jockeys be given the authority to scratch horses but you need to pass along that information to the state vets on the scene if you remain concerned as JV did when he repeated that she still wasn't right.
As said before, very few scenarios will ever play out like this especially considering that the connections had nothing to gain by starting her and having her ease. Hell I have seen this happen in claiming races where the jock breaks from the gate and basically pulls the horse up 5 strides out of the gate in the hopes some sucker dropped a claiming slip. And it would be hard to imagine that the connections were trying to make some srt of betting coup considering the size of the purse.