Yet Another Veteran Mahoning Jock Suspended For Easing Up At Wire And Losing Win By A Head

[Wandering Eyes]

Jockey Terry “T.D.” Houghton on Wednesday was suspended 30 days by the stewards at Mahoning Valley Race Course for failing “to use his utmost exertion to obtain a winning performance by standing up and appear[ing] to have stopped riding before the wire.”

The alleged lapse of judgment occurred in the second race Jan. 6, when Houghton had cleared the field by 1 1/2 lengths inside the eighth pole aboard the 5-2 third choice, Grace in Excess (Connect), in a $5,000 NW2L claimer over 1 mile 70 yards.

The Equibase chart for the race stated that the 4-year-old filly “made the lead before six furlongs, dropped inside, shook clear under right-handed urging inside the furlong marker, [then] the rider appeared to [misjudge] the wire by a few strides and was nailed at the wire.”

Houghton's mount was nipped by Elko (City of Light), the 2-1 favorite.

The infraction was the second such a “failure to give best effort” penalty meted out by the Mahoning stewards to a jockey with more than three decades of riding experience within the last 11 days.

A Dec. 26 ride by 28-year veteran Luis Antonio Gonzalez resulted in a 15-day suspension after Gonzalez geared down the 7-5 favorite Rapida (Country House) in the final sixteenth despite the onrushing presence of the 2-1 second favorite Lo Bug (Mor Spirit), who bested Rapida at the wire by a head.

Houghton's penalty was double the one given to Gonzalez, but it carried the same stipulation that if the jockey does not appeal the suspension, it will be reduced by half the number of dates and will run from Jan. 16-30. It was not clear at deadline for this story if Houghton planned to appeal.

Houghton, who has been a licensed jockey since 1987 with 6,269 lifetime wins, was seventh in both earnings and victories at the recently concluded 2024 fall/winter meet at Mahoning.

The post Yet Another Veteran Mahoning Jock Suspended For Easing Up At Wire And Losing Win By A Head appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

View the full article