2019 Galloping Triple Crown thread

It's obviously dangerous, but I just always assumed that part of what made horse racing exciting was that cutting other guys off was part of the deal, like in NASCAR and roller derby...

I mean, they came flying out of the gates and all race to the get to the pole, basically cutting all these other horses off.

His move was blatant, but there would seem to be smaller iterations of the same move all the time.

 

I'd be interested to know if they were watching live, the track feed or the NBC feed.

 

This is the applicable Kentucky regulation ( 810 KAR 1:016, Section 12):

Section 12. Fouls. A leading horse if clear is entitled to any part of the track. If a leading horse or any other horse in a race swerves or is ridden to either side so as to interfere with, intimidate, or impede any other horse or jockey, or to cause the same result, this action shall be deemed a foul. If a jockey strikes another horse or jockey, it is a foul. If in the opinion of the stewards a foul alters the finish of a race, an offending horse may be disqualified by the stewards.
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It does not require that the jockey of the lead horse cause that horse to swerve, accidentally or intentionally. There is no question there was a foul. For a disqualification after a foul, the rule does not require that the horse interfered with to be the second place horse or a horse finishing in the money, only that the interference alters the finish of the race - which includes any horse in the field.

The next section addresses the jockey in a foul:

Section 13. Stewards to Determine Foul Riding. A jockey shall make his best effort to control and guide his mount in such a way as not to cause a foul. The stewards shall take cogni- zance of riding which results in a foul, irrespective of whether an objection is lodged. If in the opinion of the stewards a foul is committed as a result of a jockey not making his best effort to control and guide his mount to avoid a foul, whether intentionally or through carelessness or incompetence, the jockey may be penalized at the discretion of the stewards.

 

Some ware watching from nearby; there are stewards in the towers that ring the track. But like in the NFL, sometimes they aren’t looking at the foul. One thing I like about horse racing is that jockeys can essentially throw a red challenge flag when they thing something blatant is missed.

 

I figured a couple of them were watching through binos - but depending on their location may not have had the correct angle. But I also assumed at least one would be watching a video feed.

 

Francesa on WFAN speculated that the stewards saw it, but didn't want to issue a DQ in the sport's biggest race, so they essentially "swallowed the whistle" and hoped none of the riders would complain. Once the riders did, they had no choice but to DQ. Seems like as good of an explanation as any I've heard.

 

Far from a racing expert ... but I did notice during his "victory" interview immediately after the race ended, Maximum Security jockey Luis Saez mentioned having to "straighten up" the horse as he turned into final stretch. He attributed the horse's actions to freaking out about the crowd noise.

I didn't notice anything weird watching the race live, but the jockey mentioning that without prompting ... before becoming aware of the other jockeys' challenges ... stood out to me.

 

"Pussy. Try playing with the flu or after staying up all night gambling." -- M. Jordan