Russell Baze suspended in a strange one

[46zilzal]

This fellow is under the gun for misuse of the whip. Supposedly hit a horse after taking a bad step and had to be put down.

MUST be more to it than that. This is certainly not typical for this rider.

[rrbauer]

This fellow is under the gun for misuse of the whip. Supposedly hit a horse after taking a bad step and had to be put down.

MUST be more to it than that. This is certainly not typical for this rider.

Bay Meadows, having had twenty-five catastrophic breakdowns during their last meet, hung their hat on having a much safer racing surface now, as part of their plea to the CHRB to get another race meet without having to install a synthetic racing surface (as was previously mandated by the CHRB). I'm guessing that they will do anything when a breakdown occurs to shift the blame away from the racing surface.

[ddog]

Bay Meadows, having had twenty-five catastrophic breakdowns during their last meet, hung their hat on having a much safer racing surface now, as part of their plea to the CHRB to get another race meet without having to install a synthetic racing surface (as was previously mandated by the CHRB). I'm guessing that they will do anything when a breakdown occurs to shift the blame away from the racing surface.

What race/day was this?

I didn't see it but can't imagine any jockey doing this on purpose, they are ON the horse for goodness sakes.

[DanG]

From what I understand (2nd hand) is Baze was in the lead. The horse took a “miss-step” and Russell stopped riding momentarily, like almost all riders do. He claims when he did the horse regained stride and then he whipped virtually simultaneously to the animal breaking down.

He claims it gave the appearance of whipping an animal “during” a catastrophic injury, which he claims was not the case.

Again…all 2nd hand as I won’t watch a breakdown unless it’s in real time and I had no choice.

[Tom]

I don't buy for a minute he did anything wrong or intentional.
Not for minute.
You think a rider - in the saddle - is going to whip a horse he thinks is puilling up?
I imagine the retards who run racing there might think that - or whatever process they call thinking.

Bulldoze BM and be done with it once and for all. It is a disgrace to racing.

[Marlin]

Saw the race. Horse was in front by 7 at the 16th pole and broke down. Baze whipped the horse twice after and finished second. Obvious misuse of the whip. Don't get me wrong, I don't think whipping the horse caused more severe injuries, but from a PR standpoint it is unacceptable.

[ddog]

That is what I would expect.
Just a terrible confluence of motion that appeared to be intentional.

But, then to suspend the guy if that's what it really was?

That sounds like a cowardly action to me.

As to seeing it, I guess I am of the mind that it happens , no matter whether one chooses to look or not.

It's part of the business, sadly. I try to be realistic and one must not turn away if one is supporting the "game".
One must face the harsh realities in order to make judgements of all kinds.

Just my own opinion of course.

[colonial]

Saw the race. Horse was in front by 7 at the 16th pole and broke down. Baze whipped the horse twice after and finished second. Obvious misuse of the whip. Don't get me wrong, I don't think whipping the horse caused more severe injuries, but from a PR standpoint it is unacceptable.

well just ban the use of whips altogether and then you won't have this problem.

[46zilzal]

When I work the gate for routes (on a bull ring they pass me twice) I was really surprised at how often I hear the "crack" of the whip after 4 furlongs going down the backstretch. I realize once to wake an animal up is okay, but these guys are often wailing away like it was going down the lane.

[DanG]

As to seeing it, I guess I am of the mind that it happens , no matter whether one chooses to look or not.

It's part of the business, sadly. I try to be realistic and one must not turn away if one is supporting the "game".
One must face the harsh realities in order to make judgements of all kinds.

Just my own opinion of course.
I respectfully disagree, as I have seen enough breakdowns to last me 10 lifetimes. I support the game in any way I can, but seeking out additional carnage is just something I choose not to do regardless of the circumstances.

Side note; as a teenager I was watching a race at Monmouth with the owners of a Bill Mott horse. (My brother worked for Mott). The horse broke down entering the stretch and to this day I can hear the shriek from the owner’s wife. I have no doubt that moment in particular combined with my almost ill rational love of animal’s helped shape my very biased view of synthetic surfaces.

[DanG]

well just ban the use of whips altogether and then you won't have this problem.
Here...here brother!!! :ThmbUp: :ThmbUp:

[JimG]

The owners of the horse involved fully supported Baze and in a recent article somewhat blasted the stewards for investigating Baze over this. I saw the race on TVG and the way DanG explained it in his earlier post is the way it looked to me.

Jim

[kenwoodallpromos]

I have read the articles but have not seen a replay of the Baze incident on August 23. But I readily believe the horse took an initial bad step.
Regardless of who the jockey was, it is my belief that the jockey is in the best position to decide if the horse seems to recover from an initial bad step; That is why there are regulations in place on jockey competence and apprenticeship.
While it is unfortunate that this horse had a cannon bone fracture who's origin may be unknown as to cause, the fact that is some horses keep running, with no reason to lay blame on any one human.
I have not as of now heard that he is suspended.

[Marlin]

One would have to side with Baze. He has forgot more about racing than most will ever know. If he says that is what happened then that is probably what happened. I take back my phrase about obvious misuse of the whip. Sorry Russell.:)

[ddog]

I respectfully disagree, as I have seen enough breakdowns to last me 10 lifetimes. I support the game in any way I can, but seeking out additional carnage is just something I choose not to do regardless of the circumstances.

Side note; as a teenager I was watching a race at Monmouth with the owners of a Bill Mott horse. (My brother worked for Mott). The horse broke down entering the stretch and to this day I can hear the shriek from the owner’s wife. I have no doubt that moment in particular combined with my almost ill rational love of animal’s helped shape my very biased view of synthetic surfaces.


I understand that totally.
It's one reason I don't mind not going to the track.
I will never forget almost 20 years ago standing at the finish line at a track that shall go nameless but was/is a death trap for horses and seeing and HEARING two horses one in mid stretch and one at the line go down horribly
in the same race.
I can tell you I often wonder if I should be in this game. I really do.

[ddog]

well just ban the use of whips altogether and then you won't have this problem.

I don't know, I think they have a use for enhanced control of the horse.
Also, now that most all are used(?) to them could you just stop cold turkey?

Anyone ?

[Ron]

Was he actually suspended?

[shanta]

Was he actually suspended?

From Trackmaster website article by Rick Needham:

An apologetic Russell Baze was suspended for 15 days by Bay Meadows stewards and fined $2,500 Aug. 26 for misusing his whip as the result of a complaint arising from an incident at the Bay Area track last week. "I’m not going to try to defend what I did," said the Hall of Fame rider. "There is no way to defend it. I made a bad decision in the heat of the moment, and I am truly sorry. I made a bad decision, and I’ll take the punishment that was handed to me. "Hopefully this will not be the defining moment of my career," added the 49-year-old Baze, North America's all-time leading rider who is closing in on 10,000 lifetime victories. "Hopefully, I’ll be judged on the right decisions I’ve made in the past and on the right decisions I’ll make in the future. In this day and age of athletes and public figures making public apologies, it can begin to ring hollow. I want people to know that I am truly sorry. Nobody knows how contrite I am in my heart." The suspension runs Sept. 2-16, accounting for 11 racing days on the Bay Meadows racing calendar. Baze whipped the 4-year-old gelding Imperial Eyes, who was breaking down in the shadow of the finish line during the first race at Bay Meadows Aug. 23. Imperial Eyes, a 4-5 favorite in the $8,000 maiden claiming event at one mile, was leading by seven lengths mid-stretch before taking a bad step near the sixteenth pole. The horse changed leads and resumed running for the wire, and Baze admitted trying to get Imperial Eyes to finish by using his whip. Imperial Eyes was later euthanized after suffering a condylar fracture of the cannon bone in his left front leg. He finished second in the race. The action came after stewards reviewed films of the incident during a 2 1/2-hour meeting Aug. 25 with Baze and his attorney, Brian Pitnick, also a Northern California trainer. They also heard from investigators for the California Horse Racing Board, assistant trainer Steve Sherman, who saddled Imperial Eyes, and Dr. William Grantham, the veterinarian who treated the injured horse. Stewards withdrew two other CHRB-initiated complaints against Baze arising from the incident -- for cruelty to an animal and actions detrimental to horse racing. Pitnick said he felt the misuse of whip allegation "was overblown, especially after Dr. Grantham, the vet in the case, made it clear (the whip use) was not a causal factor" in Imperial Eyes' demise. He said he felt stewards were under "strong public pressure" to assign responsibility for the incident, which drew national attention. However, he said there was little likelihood of making an appeal to the courts. "Russell is a stand-up guy in every sense of the word," Pitnick said. "I think he just wants to take his medicine and put this behind him." Baze, who rode two winners Aug. 26 at Bay Meadows, has 9,826 career victories."

[ryesteve]

If you look at the head-on, it appears that Baze didn't hit the horse until he made a right-hand turn into the path of the oncoming horse. In that instant, going to the whip to straighten him out would seem to be totally reflexive.

[bigmack]

You don't see the breakdown in the replay shown here:
http://www.calracing.com/replays.php
Aug23 R1 User Name: pacemember PW: pace

RBaze has more than enough experience in the saddle to know when a horse has gone bad and Imperial Eyes had done so. He was close to the wire and simply reacted but it was the wrong thing to do with his level of expertise.

While not an intentional gesture on his part the suspension was the right thing to do even though his contrition was sincere.

[Cangamble]

You don't see the breakdown in the replay shown here:
http://www.calracing.com/replays.php
Aug23 R1 User Name: pacemember PW: pace

RBaze has more than enough experience in the saddle to know when a horse has gone bad and Imperial Eyes had done so. He was close to the wire and simply reacted but it was the wrong thing to do with his level of expertise.

While not an intentional gesture on his part the suspension was the right thing to do even though his contrition was sincere.
I saw it a couple of days ago on calracing. And a suspension was definitely in order.

[ponyplayerdotca]

http://news.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=40435

from the original articled regarding this incident:

"The California Horse Racing Board complaint against Baze is for misuse of whip, conduct detrimental to racing, and animal cruelty.

Imperial Eyes broke down near the wire as Baze hit him with a whip in the first race Aug. 23. The 3-5 favorite in the $8,000 maiden claiming event at one mile, Imperial Eyes had a seven-length lead mid-stretch but took a bad step near the 16th pole. After pulling up briefly, the 4-year-old gelding changed leads and resumed running. Baze used his whip approaching the wire as the horse broke down.

Imperial Eyes finished second in the race. He was later diagnosed with a fracture of his left front cannon bone and euthanized.

The evening of the incident, Baze said he believed Imperial Eyes went lame initially. But when the horse started running again, he thought he had misjudged what happened.

"I was trying to hold him together to the finish," he said.

Baze acknowledged using his whip. "We were in the shadow of the wire, and I did keep riding him to get him across the finish line," he said.

The 49-year-old jockey drew the support of horse's trainers, Steve and Art Sherman, who say Baze is blameless for what happened."

[midnight]

I just watched the race on BRISbet. It's the first race on August 23rd. The horse took a bad step and obviously had broken down. The horse steadied itself and tried to continue on its three good legs, but its gallop was irregular (not dissimilar to a human limping along), it slowed down and ducked out, and it should have been obvious to a novice apprentice jockey (let alone to a man who has ridden for 30 years and had over 30,000 mounts), that the horse had injured itself. Nonetheless, Baze whipped the horse when it got within 20-30 yards of the wire; this about four seconds seconds after it took its misstep and started acting erratically. I don't blame the stewards for punishing Baze.

I put the replay up on my website, it covers the race from the eighth pole, when the horse was coasting along, until just past the finish.

Deep stretch replay (http://www.br52.com/replays.wmv)

[speedking]

I just watched the race on BRISbet. It's the first race on August 23rd. The horse took a bad step and obviously had broken down. The horse steadied itself and tried to continue on its three good legs, but its gallop was irregular (not dissimilar to a human limping along), it slowed down and ducked out, and it should have been obvious to a novice apprentice jockey (let alone to a man who has ridden for 30 years and had over 30,000 mounts), that the horse had injured itself. Nonetheless, Baze whipped the horse when it got within 20-30 yards of the wire; this about four seconds seconds after it took its misstep and started acting erratically. I don't blame the stewards for punishing Baze.

I put the replay up on my website, it covers the race from the eighth pole, when the horse was coasting along, until just past the finish.
Deep stretch replay (http://www.br52.com/replays.wmv)


Thanks for the replay link, Midnight. I just watched it 3 times and there is no doubt in my mind. The suspension was deserved. :ThmbUp:

Baze has too much experience to pull a stunt like that. If he were not so far in front I believe he would have pulled the horse up as quickly as possible. That video broght back awful memories of a mare I owned who blew out her sesamoids at the 8th pole while on the lead and the rider never stopped whipping and driving. That was to be one of her last starts before I took her home to adapt to the farm and then be covered. She also had to be put down on the track. Sad!

speedking

[ddog]

I would have to agree that some action was needed.
After viewing(always a good thing before a post) I would retract the previous one.

[boomman]

Thanks for the replay link, Midnight. I just watched it 3 times and there is no doubt in my mind. The suspension was deserved. :ThmbUp:

Baze has too much experience to pull a stunt like that. If he were not so far in front I believe he would have pulled the horse up as quickly as possible. That video broght back awful memories of a mare I owned who blew out her sesamoids at the 8th pole while on the lead and the rider never stopped whipping and driving. That was to be one of her last starts before I took her home to adapt to the farm and then be covered. She also had to be put down on the track. Sad!

speedking

I also thank you Midnight, as I too have watched the replay several times, and although I am a HUGE Russell Baze fan as a rider, person and ambassador of our sport, just plain and simple: He BLEW IT! I agree with speedking that the suspension was 100% deserved, and I think Russell probably realizes that with the 2 dropped charges and ONLY a 15 day suspension and a $2500 fine, that he probably got off easy. As a racing fan and an ambassador of the sport myself, I do, however, ACCEPT Russell's apology, and will just hope with all of you that this NEVER happens again. I certainly think as it applies to Russell Baze, that it is a safe bet that it won't............

Boomer

[Tom]

Baze, unfortunately, did have access to the replay when he was riding.
I maintian that if anyone thinks he would whip a horse he knew to be broken down to win a race is nuts! It is HIS life on the line in that saddle, and only his opinion counts.

Hindsight and slow-mo replays are great - he has a fraction of a second to make a choice. If he quit rinding and the horse was not hurt, he would be vilified, accussed of stiffing, whatever.

I cannot believe he would risk his life if he knew.

[boomman]

Baze, unfortunately, did have access to the replay when he was riding.
I maintian that if anyone thinks he would whip a horse he knew to be broken down to win a race is nuts! It is HIS life on the line in that saddle, and only his opinion counts.

Hindsight and slow-mo replays are great - he has a fraction of a second to make a choice. If he quit rinding and the horse was not hurt, he would be vilified, accussed of stiffing, whatever.

I cannot believe he would risk his life if he knew.

Tom: Just for the record: I never said for a minute that Russell was INTENTIONALLY trying to injure the horse or knew that the breakdown had occurred, and I realize that he had a split second to make that decision, but unfortunately, even Hall of Fame riders make the wrong decision at times, and the punishment DOES fit the crime............(obviously with the benefit of all of us watching the replays several times) And as for ONLY his opinion counting, he has admitted he screwed up.....

Boomer

[Greyfox]

If he quit rinding and the horse was not hurt, he would be vilified, accussed of stiffing, whatever.

I cannot believe he would risk his life if he knew.

Good points Tom. :ThmbUp:
My guess is that he knew the horse had taken a bad step.
But taking a bad step and being injured are two different things.
If he had known that the horse was injured he would have stopped immediately.
I doubt that he knew it was injured.
At any other point on the race track he would have stopped immediately.
That close to the wire the risk of being accused of "stiffing" was there along with the gut level reaction that the win was oh so close.

[statik27]

I think that to understand what happened in this situation you need to look al ittle deeper.
I watched all of this horse's races on Calracing and two things stuck me about what happened. One was that this horse was a terrible mover (severe paddle action, he was a hard knocking horse none the less.) and had repeated trouble with his lead changes. Two, Baze had never been on the horse before.

So here's what I think happened. Like any jock would, Baze asks Sherman or one of the other jocks that had been on this horse if he should know anything. Someone tells him he's a rough mover and sometimes needs extra help with his leads. I think that what happened in deep stretch was that Baze thought one thing was happening ie the horse was getting tired and switching around with his leads and in reality the horse was breaking down. Its unfortunate, but I seriously think thats what happened. And yes I think Baze deserved the days he got, but I won't put a black mark against him, it was a mistake.

statik

[Greyfox]

I think that to understand what happened in this situation you need to look al ittle deeper.
I watched all of this horse's races on Calracing and two things stuck me about what happened. One was that this horse was a terrible mover (severe paddle action, he was a hard knocking horse none the less.) and had repeated trouble with his lead changes. Two, Baze had never been on the horse before.

So here's what I think happened. Like any jock would, Baze asks Sherman or one of the other jocks that had been on this horse if he should know anything. Someone tells him he's a rough mover and sometimes needs extra help with his leads. I think that what happened in deep stretch was that Baze thought one thing was happening ie the horse was getting tired and switching around with his leads and in reality the horse was breaking down. Its unfortunate, but I seriously think thats what happened. And yes I think Baze deserved the days he got, but I won't put a black mark against him, it was a mistake.

statik

Makes sense to me. :ThmbUp:

[Tom]

Not me.
Why give a guy days when he did not do anything intentional?
There are enough yahoo riders out there riding the edge as well their mounts that deserve days. I just do not agree any punishment was warrented here.

[RXB]

Russell Baze is a class act all the way, and racing would be much better off if there were a lot more guys like him in the sport.

He misassessed one situation, made a mistake. Who's perfect? He took his suspension like a man and that's that.

[46zilzal]

Russell Baze is a class act all the way, and racing would be much better off if there were a lot more guys like him in the sport.

He misassessed one situation, made a mistake. Who's perfect? He took his suspension like a man and that's that.

At least he doesn't shave his head and pretend there is no drug residue on his system.

[statik27]

Not me.
Why give a guy days when he did not do anything intentional?
There are enough yahoo riders out there riding the edge as well their mounts that deserve days. I just do not agree any punishment was warrented here.

The only reason I said he deserved the days, it because of the position RB has in that Jockey Colony, he is THE guy. If it had been a bug boy that had made that mistake, they would have suspended him the same way and RB knows it. So because he's a man and know he made a mistake, he's willing to set an example of how it should be handled.

Statik

P.S. Riders get suspensions all the time for things they didn't do or things that weren't their fault, but the stewards can hardly suspend a horse, so the jockey is the fall guy. Just part of the game I guess.

[cj]

I agree it looks very bad. It just seems very hard to believe he would do this intentionally. I don't think he can be termed a struggling rider in need of purse money.

[midnight]

the stewards can hardly suspend a horse

They can and do. If a horse acts badly enough, the stewards have the power to bar it from racing until the trainer can work with the horse, and the horse proves that it can behave.

[NY BRED]

Well, I've seen the race and the horse had a five length lead
in deep stretch.


Aside from being whipped at least 4 times after the bad step, the question
is why an experienced journeyman continued whipping instead of slowing the
horse down in a meaningless race, with a purse worth very little to
the owner or Jockey.

Instead, the horse was whipped to accelerate which is why it is now dead.


I have witnessed numerous situations in many tracks where the horse is
pulled up or allowed to slow down, but have never witnessed this
insane maneuver.

[citygoat]

The odds should be more evenly spread amongst the 5 or 6 horse fields for a couple of weeks.

err on the side of caution seems to be the stewards message.

I will never forget seeing the Great McGinty drop dead in the stretch on Mother's Day in the late 80's at DRC

20 to win and place and in front and 11-1.

It is a sad sight when they drag a horse into the trailer on the track.