Stewards, refs and umpires

[Valuist]

In basketball and football, the trend seems to be "let them play" in either the final minutes of a game or in the games of higher importance (playoffs). Last January, the Patriots ran roughshod on the Colts but the officials were consistent, not calling the holding and pass interferences that could've been called. In basketball, we often see officials "choking on the whistle" in the closing minute or two, giving the edge to the more physical team. In these sports, I'm not sure I agree w/this philosophy.

The question is: should the importance of a race affect the stewards thinking?

I believe in this case it should. Obviously the race at AP last weekend comes to mind. In last years running, the evidence was so overwhelming they had no choice. This year it could've been considered ambiguous. Do we want Breeders Cup races to be won in the stewards box? Fortunately for CD, I don't believe the Derby has ever been decided by the stewards. But it's only a matter of time.

[Valuist]

I take back the Derby comment. I believe one horse was DQ'd for a post race positive many years ago. But I think none have been DQ'd for fouling another horse.

[OTM Al]

The importance of a race shouldn't matter at all. If a foul happens it should be called. What I don't like with rulings is that if a horse bumps another and then goes on to win by a substantial amount, a foul usually isn't called whereas if it is closer on the line its is. How can we say for certain that the horse that was bumped wasn't so thrown off that he lost a ton of ground instead of a little. In many animals, bumping is a sign of dominance over another. A bumped horse could feel very threatened by such a thing and back off to avoid conflict. Its impossible to say as we can't ask the horse. Its such a hard call to make in many instances when the bumps aren't hard, so I doubt we'll ever get so called consistancy. Just look at how variable the strike zone has been in baseball.

All said, I really don't think this year's Arlington Million was that far off base though. The jock had no reason to vear in. Doing so loses him a couple feet to the line anyway. He made a dangerous move and should have been penalized IMO, though 2nd or 3rd would have been more appropriate than 4th I think

[BillW]

Originally posted by OTM Al

All said, I really don't think this year's Arlington Million was that far off base though. The jock had no reason to vear in. Doing so loses him a couple feet to the line anyway. He made a dangerous move and should have been penalized IMO, though 2nd or 3rd would have been more appropriate than 4th I think

OTM AL,

I agree, but the reason for being put to 4th was that it was determined that he fouled the 7 horse (originally placing 4th) and had to be placed behind him.

Bill

[CryingForTheHorses]

DANCER'S IMAGE was the horse disqualifed 5 YEARS after the derby..He lost the purse due to Bute in his system.I dont beleive the stewards should take the kind of approach that they do in hockey and football,I have seen the stewards leave 2 front runners alone that were bumping each other all the way to the finish line,The horse that was bumped last won and got to stay as the winner.I also dont think the size of the purse matters, Does it matter to a cop if you famous or not?.If the ownwers or trainer dont agree with the stewards , They have 24hours to appeal the decision and hold up the purse.IMO think they do a great job.

[Valuist]

Good article in the DRF re: the Million decision.

http://www.drf.com/drfNewsArticle.do?NID=58394&subs=0&arc=1

[BIG RED]

Originally posted by McSchell_Racing
DANCER'S IMAGE was the horse disqualifed 5 YEARS after the derby..He lost the purse due to Bute in his system.I dont beleive the stewards should take the kind of approach that they do in hockey and football,I have seen the stewards leave 2 front runners alone that were bumping each other all the way to the finish line,The horse that was bumped last won and got to stay as the winner.I also dont think the size of the purse matters, Does it matter to a cop if you famous or not?.If the ownwers or trainer dont agree with the stewards , They have 24hours to appeal the decision and hold up the purse.IMO think they do a great job.

5 years after, how did they get the money returned?

[CryingForTheHorses]

I believe the purse was held untill the outcome of the decision.I dont know all the details

[cj]

Originally posted by Valuist
Good article in the DRF re: the Million decision.

http://www.drf.com/drfNewsArticle.do?NID=58394&subs=0&arc=1

A very good article, thanks for the link.