Sidebar

[Poindexter]

The first dq looks right to me. He carried the horse in a long way and eliminated any chance he had and the horse was clearly in contention. . The 2nd dq, brings up something I always hated in the rules. If the interfered with horse gets nipped for at the wire(or falls) they have to take down the favorite, since he didn't, you have to make a determination that the interferred with horse could have finished ahead of any of the 3 horses that finished in front of him. In this case that is an impossible determination to make (one way or the other). If they took down the favorite, imo, that would have stirred up even more anger. No matter what rules are used, there will always be frustration and controversy. Nothing more frustrating than having a 13-1 horse who was likely clearly best get taken down, but he did eliminate any chance the other horse had of doing better.


Inquirys are unfortunately part of this game and with many folks betting superfectas, every take down or non take down can cost someone a lot of money. You just have to assume that the stewards will do their best to make the best decision they can. A lot of times the decisions are very tough and very tricky. Sometimes they will get it wrong. Sometimes I think they make a purposely wrong decision just because they don't want to take a horse down (I cannot provide an example it is just a conclusion I have formed in my head). I don't think they were were wrong in either of the 2 Saratoga races.