Wandering Eyes

Mrs. Jerry Shields, E.J.M. McFadden Jr. and LNJ Foxwoods' Country House finished second to Maximum Security in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) but was awarded the win via disqualification. View the full article

Slam Dunk Racing's Maxim Rate got a perfect trip under Kent Desormeaux in the $100,000 Senorita Stakes (G3T) May 4 at Santa Anita Park and prevailed by a half-length. View the full article

After what had to be the most agonizing 20 minutes of their collective lives, the Churchill Downs stewards disqualified Maximum Security (New Year’s Day) after he crossed the wire first in the 145th running of the GI Kentucky Derby Saturday and placed him 17th. It was the first time in Derby history that a horse had been stripped of the win due to an infraction on the racetrack. The beneficiary was 65-1 shot Country House (Lookin at Lucky), who was declared the winner and gave Hall of Famer Bill Mott his first win in the sport’s most important race. This is sure to go down as one of the most controversial Derbies in history. In Maximum Security, you had a horse that led 18 others across the wire and was much the best. That he impeded other horses is not why he won. He was just better than everyone else. Meanwhile, Country House, the official winner, was not bothered and nothing that Maximum Security did cost him from winning the Derby the conventional way. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? Yet the stewards absolutely made the right call. They did their job, and went by the rule book. They also didn’t buckle under the pressure that comes with adjudicating the Kentucky Derby. They treated this as if it were a $5,000 maiden claimer at Turfway Park, which is exactly how it’s supposed to happen. Here’s the Kentucky Racing Commission rule: “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.” There’s no doubt that Maximum Security, who was ridden by Luis Saez, interfered, intimidated and impeded other horses. Nearing the top of the stretch, he ducked out and knocked into War of Will (War Front), which started a chain reaction. War of Will was forced into Long Range Toddy (Take Charge Indy), who took up sharply. Maximum Security was placed one position behind Long Range Toddy. War of Will finished eighth and was moved up to seventh. Neither War of Will nor Long Range Toddy had any chance of winning. At best, War of Will might have finished fifth if not bothered. Long Range Toddy was already a beaten horse when the incident occurred. To make the story all that more strange, Flavien Prat aboard Country House claimed foul, even though his horse was not bothered. Tyler Gaffalione on War of Will, the horse who was really mugged, did not. You can’t blame the stewards. But you can argue all you want that the rules covering disqualifications in North America are all wrong. The newly formed racing think tank, The Thoroughbred Idea Foundation, covered this subject in its first ever white paper back in November. The organization explained that when it comes to disqualifications, there are two systems in place, one used in the U.S. and Canada and another used virtually everywhere else in the world. The U.S. rules are called Category 2 rules by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA). Basically, under Category 2 rules, a horse will be taken down if it interferes with another horse and/or does something that causes another horse in the race to finish further back than it would have otherwise. Under the Category 1 system, a horse is only taken down if the horse it bothered clearly would have finished ahead of the offending horse if not for the incident. That was not the case in the Derby. The official IFHA Category 1 rule reads: “If, in the opinion of the Staging Authority’s relevant judicial body, a horse or its rider causes interference and finishes in front of the horse interfered with but irrespective of the incident(s) the sufferer would not have finished ahead of the horse causing the interference, the judge’s placings will remain unaltered.” “In no other country in the world but the U.S. or Canada would Maximum Security have come down,” said TIF Executive Director Pat Cummings. “One hundred percent he would have stayed up.” I had never given much thought to which system is better, but the Derby opened up a Pandora’s Box. You had a deserving winner, a horse that ran the rest of the field off its collective feet, yet got disqualified because he bothered two horses that were going nowhere in the stretch. You had a horse declared the winner of the most important horse race in America who was “beaten” because he wasn’t good enough. Even Mott admitted that on NBC that Country House was not bothered by Maximum Security. This is an issue the sport needs to take a serious look at. In light of what happened Saturday at Churchill Downs, doesn’t it seem like our system makes no sense? Yes, Maximum Security deserved to come down, but only because of a Kafkaesque situation that unfolded due to rules that need to be revisited. The post The Stewards Were Right, But The System is Wrong appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Gary West, owner and breeder of Maximum Security, reacted graciously to his colt's disqualification in the May 4 Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (G1). View the full article

The connections that own Country House, awarded the 145th Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), came together after the colt broke his maiden at Gulfstream Park Jan. 17 of this year in his third career start. View the full article

The connections that own Country House, awarded the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), came together after the colt broke his maiden at Gulfstream Park Jan. 17 of this year in his third career start. View the full article

Making his season debut May 4, Canada's reigning champion male sprinter Pink Lloyd won the third straight edition of the $125,000 Jacques Cartier Stakes at Woodbine. View the full article

Country House, a 65-1 longshot, won the 145th Kentucky Derby on Sunday (AEST) after the unprecedented disqualification of wire-to-wire leader Maximum Security. View the full article

Mrs. Jerry Shields, E.J.M. McFadden Jr. and LNJ Foxwoods' Country House finished second to Maximum Security in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), but was awarded the win via disqualification. View the full article

R Unicorn Stable's Santa Monica turned in yet another solid effort when she recorded a 1 ¼-length victory in the Sheepshead Bay Stakes (G2T) for fillies and mares, the first of three graded stakes on Kentucky Derby Day at Belmont Park. View the full article

Country House, a 65-1 longshot, won the 145th Kentucky Derby on Sunday (AEST) when Maximum Security was disqualified after crossing the line first. View the full article

Elite Excalibur cuts a swathe in Moonbeam Vase View the full article

Bold Thruster lands Rocket Man Sprint View the full article

Lerner returns a winner on Wind Trail View the full article

KS Tan Spurred On by double View the full article

Track conditions and course scratchings May 5 View the full article

Horses' body weights May 5 View the full article

Fire is back on the Polytrack View the full article

In one of the most shocking occurrences in GI Kentucky Derby history, front-running and previously unbeaten Maximum Security (New Year’s Day) was disqualified after a lengthy objection, and 65-1 longshot COUNTRY HOUSE (c, 3, Lookin At Lucky–Quake Lake, by War Chant) was moved up to first in the 145th Run for the Roses. Code of Honor (Noble Mission {GB}) inherited second, and Tacitus (Tapit) completed a 1-3 finish for Hall of Famer Bill Mott. Maximum Security, who set the pace but drifted out around the bend and appeared to interfere with multiple rivals heading for home before splashing away to a clear-cut victory, was moved all the way back to 17th. He had stopped the clock in 2:03.95 over the sloppy going. Country House, a ‘TDN Rising Star’, was most recently third in the GI Arkansas Derby behind scratched would-be favorite Omaha. Lifetime Record: 7-2-2-1. O- Mrs JV Shields, Jr., EJM McFadden, Jr & LNJ Foxwoods. B-J Shields Jr (Ky). T-William I Mott. The post Maximum Security DQ’d, Country House Put Up in Shocking Derby Result appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Bricks and Mortar has given trainer Chad Brown anxious moments more than once during his career, but in the May 4 $1 million Old Forester Turf Classic Stakes (G1T) at Churchill Downs, he did what Brown trusts him to do--find the wire. View the full article

Mr. Money barreled home to win the $400,000 Pat Day Mile Stakes presented by LG and E and KU (G3) and earned his first graded stakes win for Allied Racing Stable. View the full article

BRICKS AND MORTAR (h, 5, Giant’s Causeway–Beyond the Waves, by Ocean Crest)ran to his even-money odds to score a fourth consecutive victory in the GI Old Forester Turf Classic S. at Churchill Downs. Able to save some ground from the 12 hole while tucked in off the pace, the GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational S. hero unleashed his powerful turn of foot to mow them all down and provide Irad Ortiz, Jr. with his third graded win on the card and a second graded win on the day for trainer Chad Brown and co-owner Seth Klarman of Klaravich Stables. Ortiz, Brown and Klaravich had taken the GII American Turf S. two races earlier with Digital Age (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}). Bricks and Mortar, who stopped the clock in 1:51.80, was followed home by Qurbaan (Speightstown) and Clyde’s Image (Get Stormy). Bricks and Mortar had last been seen having to work for a nose victory in the GII Mervin Muniz H. Mar. 23. Sales history: $200,000 yrl ’15 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: 10-8-0-2. O-Klaravich Stables Inc & William H Lawrence. B-George Strawbridge Jr (Ky). T-Chad C Brown. The post Bricks and Mortar Keeps Streak Going in Turf Classic appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Klaravich Stables' Irish-bred Digital Age stormed down the middle of Churchill Downs' turf course to overtake pacesetter A Thread of Blue in deep stretch for a three-quarter-length victory in the American Turf Presented by Ram Trucks (G2T). View the full article

MR. MONEY (c, 3, Goldencents–Plenty O’Toole, by Tiznow), fifth in the GII Louisiana Derby last time, flattered the winner of that race–his stablemate and GI Kentucky Derby entrant By My Standards (Goldencents)–as a romping 7-1 shot in the GIII Pat Day Mile. Tucked in just behind the early pace, he got through heading for home and kicked away convincingly from there to prevail by daylight. Longshot Hog Creek Hustle (Overanalyze) was second and Dream Maker (Tapit) was third. Heavy favorite Instagrand (Into Mischief) was off the board. Sales history: $130,000 yrl ’17 KEESEP. O-Allied Racing Stable LLC. B-Spruce Lane Farm (Ky). T-W. Bret Calhoun. The post Goldencents’s Mr. Money Gets the Cash in Pat Day Mile appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Veteran jockey Scott Stevens has been selected to receive the 2019 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award at Santa Anita May 19. A winner of more than 4,800 races in a career that has spanned 43 years, Stevens will be joined on May 19 by his retired Hall of Fame brother Gary Stevens, who won this award in 1996, making them the first siblings to accomplish the feat. The winner is selected via a nationwide vote by fellow jockeys. “I know I was there when Gary won, but honestly, it’s been so long ago, I don’t remember,” said Stevens. “This award is so special and I was honored just to be nominated. When you think about all the great riders and people who have won it and to be selected by a vote of your peers. It’s more than I can describe.” The post Scott Stevens to Receive Woolf Award appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article