Why does the winner stay up but Brice Blanc goes away for 3 days

John White talked about this in his "It's Post Time" column on the HRTV website a few days ago. He referenced a list compiled by Steve Davidowitz ranked the most infamous DQ's and the one that topped his list was “The Second Race at Saratoga, August 2, 1986.” I'm just going to copy and paste.

That race has been discussed from time to time in this column. It’s the race in which the stewards disqualified the wrong horse, a mistake they did not realize until after declaring the result official. They disqualified the original winner, Allumeuse, who did nothing wrong. They should have disqualified Syntonic.

After the final race at Saratoga that day, the stewards issued the following statement:

“The stewards erred in disqualifying the No. 8 horse, Allumeuse, in today’s second race. Following the finish of the race on the main turf course in which two horses unseated their riders near the one-eighth pole, we reviewed a video replay and inadvertently disqualified Allumeuse instead of the No. 11 horse, Syntonic, who did interfere with No. 3, Fasta Dancer. We have corrected the purse distribution accordingly.

“We regret that, because of our concern for the condition of jockey Robbie Davis, who was injured in the incident, we did not discover our error until after the race was declared official and betting payoffs began. Under State Racing and Wagering Board Rule 4008.1, the betting payoff cannot be changed after the ‘Official’ sign has been posted.”

The Associated Press story pointed out that Allumeuse “should have paid $16.40 to win, and, coupled with Passing Thunder, winner of the day’s first race, would have paid $97.20 for the Daily Double. Instead, because the incorrect order was made official, bettors holding tickets on Allumeuse received nothing.”

The Associated Press further reported that Jerry Bailey, the rider of Fasta Dancer, said in a post-race interview that he had advised the stewards by telephone that it had been Syntonic, not Allumeuse, who had been at fault.