Saratoga 5th - No DQ?

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Originally Posted by parsixfarms

It would have been interesting what decision the stewards would have made had the third place finisher won the place photo rather than losing it. Since she only missed second by a nose, I think it's hard to argue with any sense of certainty that Laylaben drifting did not impact that horse's ability to achieve a maximum placing.

This is a good point, however I find it interesting that stewards in general fall back on the horse interferred with was falling back and thus a DQ is not warranted. Either way it comes down to a judgment, to me if a horse is bumped hard, it inevitiably may have a significant effect on his or her performance, just because a horse doesn't run on after being bumped hard doesn't mean it could not have achieved a better placing if it hadn't. A horse could have been disinterested, nicked or knocked off stride when bumped and as I cited in the Bejarano case, the stewards guessed the horse was fading regardless and it wouldn't have figured into exotics, to me if the horse wasn't bumped it would have achieved a better placing. There doesn't seem to be any consistency with stewards lately.

[The Indomitable DrugS]

The horse that was impeded was beaten a nose for 2nd. It's not hard to figure out their decision ... two things have to happen, 1.) a foul has to take place 2.) that foul has to cost a horse a chance at a better placing.

Like Rupert said - it's a little like pass interference in football. If the contact is significant - but the ball flies 15 yards over the recievers head and lands way out of bounds - it's no flag.

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Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

The horse that was impeded was beaten a nose for 2nd. It's not hard to figure out their decision ... two things have to happen, 1.) a foul has to take place 2.) that foul has to cost a horse a chance at a better placing.

Like Rupert said - it's a little like pass interference in football. If the contact is significant - but the ball flies 15 yards over the recievers head and lands way out of bounds - it's no flag.

I understand the point, and all things considered I don't disagree. The consistency issue is what I don't like. How do you determine a horse was fading only when after a horse was significantly bumped then fell back, it's like saying the bumping had absolutely no effect on a horse's desire to run or had no effect on an outcome in a race. Just as in the original post of this thread, how do the stewards know Prado's horse achieved maximum placing had it not been bumped, since we do not know for 100% certain it would have placed higher had it not been bumped so vigorously. It's like saying all horses run the same race regardless whether they are bumped or not?