I got some more information on the incident today. From what I heard, Mike Smith did not actually ask the vet to scratch the horse. He did ask the vet to take a look at the horse because he thought that the horse felt a little off. So he basically asked the vet her opinion. She said that she thought the horse looked alright.
You can't necessarily blame the vet for the incident. There are sore horses running every day and most of them don't break down. In addition, it's not an exact science and this horse may not have looked too bad. Sometimes the jockey can feel something that's very subtle that may not be visible to most observers.
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