Quote:
Originally Posted by theiman
There was a horse about 5-6 years ago, at Hollywood Park, DQ'd after the race was official because he wasnt eligible for the condition.
I believe it was a Paul Aguirre trained horse who had a race at Turf Paradise in the Maiden OC $30K condition. I dont remember all of the details but I think he was entered in the straight maiden portion at Turf Paradise and it turns out the DRF lines and/or the horses papers showed he was entered for the claiming $30K portion. This made him eligible for a starter allowance in So Cal, which he won. Stewards got a tip after the race was run and official, that he was never in the claiming portion of the race at Turf P. I guess the stewards investigated and DQ'd him from the purse.
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Yes. I remember this race very well, and we actually discussed it on the board a year or two ago. It was indeed Aguirre, and the scenario you laid out is exactly what happened...except, in the form, it showed that the horse had not run for the tag with the
N right there designating that the horse had not been eligible to be claimed, therefore running, and winning, under MSW conditions for the race. This was when the StAlN2L was for horses that had
broken maiden at $40,000 or less, rather than the way the condition is written now, for horses that have
run for $40,000 or less. Aguirre lost the purse a couple months later.
Here's another instance, from just the past week or two, showing all the things a trainer will do to get his horse in a favorable situation, and the stewards needing to be alert and ready to act. Cerin entered a horse in a StAl eligible to horses that had run for $12,500 or less and had not won a race since. His horse had been entered at EMD (if I'm not mistaken) in a claiming race priced at $15,000 back to $12,500. However, it had been the first race this horse had been entered in for about a year, and was eligible for the claiming waiver allowance, so therefore the horse was not eligible to be claimed in that $15k back. Cerin entered in the StAl, stating the race at EMD was open to horses for a tag of $12,500, and since this horse was ineligible to be claimed, wanted his horse to be considered entered in that race for $12,500, therefore making him eligible for the StAl race. The stewards must have just said to themselves, we're taking the easy road here and just scratching him as there is no real way to determine whether the horse was a $15k claimer or a $12,500 claimer in that EMD race since the horse had run under the waiver allowance.
The "20 head or less" condition is stupid. It's just a lame condition. They're trying to help the smaller outfits, and Treece qualifies in that way. But to help those outfits, they'll need to write it differently. It's a noble effort, if they can get it right.
I don't mind a "home-bred" MSW condition near as much, if the condition ever took hold. However, in Cali, the state-bred races are stuffed with home-breds as it is. Even Cali breds that sell at auction, for the most part, aren't really going anywhere but to the local circuit, but a home-bred, state-bred condition could potentially encourage breeding and running in the state. Just a home-bred condition would still get filled with Pegrams and Zayats and those Ky types when they're trying to accommodate the Ziebarths, Warrens, Tommytowns and Reddams.
