Kentucky Derby | Golden Skate

Kentucky Derby

Joined
Jun 21, 2003
So, the biggest U.S. horse race of the year just ended with a disqualification of the apparent winner, leaving a 65-1 underdog as the official champion. This was the first time in the 145-year history of the race that this has happened.

While the track stewards were going over the instant replays to make their determination, all the discussion by the commentators was along the lines, "Well, I can see where the leading horse drifted out of his lane. If this were any other race than the Kentucky Derby there might be an issue, but hey! this is the Kentucky Derby! How can we deny the prize to the first horse across the finish line?"

This reminded me of the figure skating discussions that we are having on the Edge about the perception that under-rotation calls that are judged strictly during the regular season are for the most part overlooked when it comes to the world championship.

(And where were Johnny and Tara?)
 
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NoviceFan

Triple Something-Triple Looping
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Sep 21, 2018
What a dramatic ending! A real stunner!

I thought Maximum Security could possibly go for the 3C - though to be honest, I sort of don’t want another 3C winner, after we just had two recently (although after Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Affirmed won, so maybe another one is coming). Part of it is my husband, an avid horse racing fan (we saw American Pharoah win - he was truly handsome) has a habit of buying statues (maybe more properly, statuettes) of 3C winners, and I don’t have any space for a new one :noshake:
But Secretariat remains in his place of honor in our home. :)
 

CoyoteChris

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 4, 2004
So, the biggest U.S. horse race of the year just ended with a disqualification of the apparent winner, leaving a 65-1 underdog as the official champion. This was the first time in the 145-year history of the race that this has happened.

While the track stewards were going over the instant replays to make their determination, all the discussion by the commentators was along the lines, "Well, I can see where the leading horse drifted out of his lane. If this were any other race than the Kentucky Derby there might be an issue, but hey! this is the Kentucky Derby! How can we deny the prize to the first horse across the finish line?"

This reminded me of the figure skating discussions that we are having on the Edge about the perception that under-rotation calls that are judged strictly during the regular season are for the most part overlooked when it comes to the world championship.

(And where were Johnny and Tara?)

It was really odd...the local station did a poor job of telling the story and there was no national news on CBS about this. The video on the local news was terrible so I am hoping someone has some real video with both horses labeled. I dont know beans about horse racing and had no Idea about the "no blocking rule" which probably explains why NASCAR drivers dont try to become horse jockies. I certainly dont see any lanes. I would love to see drone video the the pack from the rear...it looks like half the field is jockying for position. I am just happy no horse fell and had to be put down. :noshake:
 

CoyoteChris

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 4, 2004
What a dramatic ending! A real stunner!

I thought Maximum Security could possibly go for the 3C - though to be honest, I sort of don’t want another 3C winner, after we just had two recently (although after Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Affirmed won, so maybe another one is coming). Part of it is my husband, an avid horse racing fan (we saw American Pharoah win - he was truly handsome) has a habit of buying statues (maybe more properly, statuettes) of 3C winners, and I don’t have any space for a new one :noshake:
But Secretariat remains in his place of honor in our home. :)

Wife 1.0 had Hanoverians, and we would watch Secretariat......I just thought he was a pretty horse....:thumbsup:
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
It was really odd...the local station did a poor job of telling the story and there was no national news on CBS about this. The video on the local news was terrible so I am hoping someone has some real video with both horses labeled. I dont know beans about horse racing and had no Idea about the "no blocking rule" which probably explains why NASCAR drivers dont try to become horse jockies. I certainly dont see any lanes. I would love to see drone video the the pack from the rear...it looks like half the field is jockying for position. I am just happy no horse fell and had to be put down. :noshake:

The live commentators had quite a bit to say about it. (For one thing, they had about 20 minutes of dead air to fill while the video reviews were ongoing. They interviewed some of the jockeys, owners, trainers, officials, etc., to try to get someone to chime in with some wuzrobbin', but no one said anything except, "It's up the the track stewards npw; all we can do is wait for their verdict.")

I am no expert, but to me it seemed like the rule is kind of "no harm, no foul." A horse can change lanes but cannot interfere with other horses to create an unsafe situation for the horses and riders. (These are big animals. They go fast. Like figure skaters, except for the big animals part.) Usually it is the opposite -- as, for instance when a horse is taken wide on the final turn precisely to get clear of the crush of other horses. In the pre-race coverage they showed the head steward's (standard?) address to the jockeys: "Let's have a clean and safe race, etc."

One of the live commentators, who sounded more authoritative than the others -- or maybe he just had a stronger opinion -- felt that the team that brought the complaint did not have much of a case, but that there was a third horse (who finished out of the money) that was definitely impeded. As for the camera angles, it seemed that the stewards had access to four different views, which they went over and over in synchronization. The incident happened coming out of a turn and none of the camera angles was perfect.

What was noteworthy to me was that when the celebrating jockey who thought he had won was interviewed by the commentator-on-horseback seconds after the race, she asked him something vague about, how did the race go. And the jockey's instant response was something like, "This horse is a baby, he doesn't have much experience in big races. When we came around the final turn he was spooked by the roar of the crowd and drifted out. But I was able to steady him quickly." And in fact, he lost a little ground to the pursuers while being "steadied," before taking off again in the last half of the stretch.

The then-second place horse had to be "steadied," too, in order to prevent clipping heels with a third horse.

Anyway, if you bet a million dollars on Country House, now you have $65,000,000.

Speaking of NASCAR, one of the color commentators was race car guy Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
 

fabienne1996

Medalist
Joined
Nov 24, 2018
Country
Germany
I saw the video when the horse changed lanes,and for me it did definetly not look accidentally or that the horse spooked.andi have been riding horses for 10 years .it looked deliberately. He let the horse change lanes , bringing him exactly before the horse that was getting nearer to taking over. At some point the hoofs of both horses came almost in contact with each other. That could have really been a bad accident .
 

Amei

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 11, 2013
I don't follow racing too much (i.e. I watch the big 3 and that's it) but I agree with what 1 of the trainers said - if it disqualifies the horse/jockey on unimportant race then it should disqualify them for the Kentucky Derby. Fans should always root for is for consistency in calls that officials make.
 

fabienne1996

Medalist
Joined
Nov 24, 2018
Country
Germany
I don't follow racing too much (i.e. I watch the big 3 and that's it) but I agree with what 1 of the trainers said - if it disqualifies the horse/jockey on unimportant race then it should disqualify them for the Kentucky Derby. Fans should always root for is for consistency in calls that officials make.
The sad thing is about many of those fans, when 21 or22 horses die on the racing track in Santa Anita in just a few months everyone is screaming that the rules in the racing industry needs to change, and when they change the rules or are stricter with the rules like here I this case the fans start screaming that it is unfair to disqualify the winning horse. And I am like guys what the he'll do you even want, the jockey did something which is against the rules and he paid for it. This entire thing could have ended so badly. The horses could have crashed and than the people would be screaming again for more rules.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
One thing that made this call unusual is that the panel of stewards did not raise an official inquiry sign either during the race or afterward. In other words, the officials did not see anything that called for a review.

Only after the other horse's team made a complaint was the matter taken up for reevaluation.
 

solani

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Joined
Sep 8, 2014
Country
Austria
"Maximum Security" ist not the best name for this horse .... I think this shows that horses should have a lot of experience before entering those big races. I think it's a miracle that MS's move didn't cause a fatal accident with half of the field gone down. The stuarts had to make this decision. And we all should be glad that we don't have to remember injured horses and jockeys lying on that famous track ...
 

CoyoteChris

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 4, 2004
One thing that made this call unusual is that the panel of stewards did not raise an official inquiry sign either during the race or afterward. In other words, the officials did not see anything that called for a review.

Only after the other horse's team made a complaint was the matter taken up for reevaluation.

They did a better coverage and video segment today. I think more than one jockey complained and with the stop action , MS did cut off a horse and perhaps made contact between the rear hooves of MS and the front of said horse. No one said this was intentional. If I were winning the race, I would stick to the rail as it is the shortest path around the final curve and no one can come up on your left side and anyone who is gonna pass you would have to come around your right. I think if MS HAS changed lanes but was so far ahead that he didnt interfer with another horse, no flag would have been called.

The big takeaway for me is that there was general agreement that they are wayyyyyy tooooo many horses racing at once here.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
The big takeaway for me is that there was general agreement that they are wayyyyyy tooooo many horses racing at once here.

There was also some discussion of whether the whole event should have been postponed because of the track conditions. Probably impossible to do, though, considering all the spectacle besides just the race.

To tell the truth, to me it always looks like there is a lot of jostling and "jockeying for position" throughout every big race, with a gang of horses all bunched up going a mile a minute. The jockeys (and trainers) have there work cut out for them.
 

NoviceFan

Triple Something-Triple Looping
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Sep 21, 2018
A part of me wanted Bodexpress, the colt that tossed his jockey, to win. Talk about taking matters into your own hands. :cheer2:
 

elbkup

Power without conscience is a savage weapon
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Mar 3, 2015
Country
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We all know horses love to run.. the nature of the beast
But
NOT the way they ran at the KD... :noshake:
 
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