GP Stewards -- 3rd at GP today

Socalman3 · March 04, 2021, 11:21:32 AM

I havent been following closely -- was the non-call in today\'s third normal business in FLA? I am prejudiced. The 1 horse was on the outside of the 7-5 favorite (the 10 horse). They dueled the whole stretch with 1 horse losing by about 1/4 of a length. Alvarado on the 1 claimed foul against Irad on the 10. The head very clearly showed that Irad on the 10 did not keep to his lane and 3 times came over and phyically bumped with the 1. Alvarado thought enough of it to claim foul and the final margin of victory was close. Three bumps are not good enough? It was clear that the transgressor left its lane to bump the victim. The victim tried to run straight and only moved in reaction to the bumps. Maybe I am prejudiced, but i really thought that one should come down.

Socalman3 · March 04, 2021, 11:27:32 AM

Socalman3 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I havent been following closely -- was the
> non-call in today\'s third normal business in FLA?
> I am prejudiced. The 1 horse was on the outside
> of the 7-5 favorite (the 10 horse). They dueled
> the whole stretch with 1 horse losing by about 1/4
> of a length. Alvarado on the 1 claimed foul
> against Irad on the 10. The head very clearly
> showed that Irad on the 10 did not keep to his
> lane and 3 times came over and phyically bumped
> with the 1. Alvarado thought enough of it to
> claim foul and the final margin of victory was
> close. Three bumps are not good enough? It was
> clear that the transgressor left its lane to bump
> the victim. The victim tried to run straight and
> only moved in reaction to the bumps. Maybe I am
> prejudiced, but i really thought that one should
> come down.
by the way, on reviewing the head on again, it is clear there were three physical contact bumps, all three initiated by the inside horse. It seems to me that they cannot deny the three bumps and who initiated it. The only possible rationale is that somehow the three bumps did not make the difference. Now, I will admit it, it looked like they could run around another lap and the 1 was still not goign to catch the 10...but the 1 was very close and only lost by 1/4 of a length. Do they keep the horse up on the subjective view that the fouled horse wasnt going to beat the committer of the foul? Seems like insane law to me. How is that judgment made. I would sure hate to have to judge such a thing.

Tavasco · March 04, 2021, 12:58:00 PM

I saw the events just as you describe. It appeared to me, that Ortiz also threw a scare into the 6 leaving the turn. Ortiz at the prices, had the crowd on his side so only the minority outraged. Stewards judgement appears a poor one, to me, in this case.

Molesap · March 04, 2021, 01:32:04 PM

I had the winner in my P5, but not the second place horse and thought he would come down. Was a bit surprised he did not.

Socalman3 · March 04, 2021, 02:01:07 PM

in reading the official chart, the chart caller seemed to believe that the two horses were equally to blame. However, I do not see how you can watch the head on and come away with that conclusion. One horse left his lane to enter the other horse\'s lane. Only way you fault the second horse is to say it should have moved out of the way when the inside horse lunged at it rather than holding its course. That seems very odd to me.

Usually I am very impressed with the chart callers and the quality of charts has been superb in recent years. However, this chart leaves me shaking my head.

I cannot reconcile what I saw with my own eyes versus other people\'s view of the same thing.

Molesap · March 04, 2021, 06:49:15 PM

There was a similar incident in my mind last week at GP. The horse on the inside came out a bit in nudged the horse on the outside, the outside horse then leaned back on the inside horse and caused him to check badly. I don\'t think the outside horse necessarily impedes the inside horse until he comes out and makes the first contact. They did the DQ the outside horse last week. This week the inside horse came out with Irad and forced the outside horse out at another lane. The outside horse did come back inside a bit but not until after the first contact was made and certainly not to the same degree. I was surprised they did not move him down.

Socalman3 · March 05, 2021, 06:26:57 AM

thank you, Tavasco and Molesap for the reality check. it is the classic paranoia where you are not sure whether they are really out to get you or not. I think Tavasco\'s explanation for the non-call is sadly probably right -- Irad on a 3-2 at GP can shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and not get taken down.

Molesap · March 05, 2021, 11:56:46 PM

Another steward\'s inquiry today with Irad bumping another horse turning for home - another no call.

Tavasco · March 06, 2021, 10:40:31 AM

I have observed Irad routinely appear to obstruct/intimidate other contenders in the stretch. It seems to happen too often to be coincidence. Add that to his recent Mike Tyson act and I begin to wonder if the guy has some personality flaws.

Bullies come in all sizes and shapes. An epidemic of bad behavior. IMHO - I think there should be consequences maybe counseling, mental health often overlooked until?