Quote:
Originally Posted by cj
This has been a topic here many times over the years.
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Yep, in fact, I'm shocked that it's been 3 years since the last real brouhaha, when Desormeaux allegedly stopped riding What A View (a subsequent Grade 1 winner) in a conditioned allowance race. The horse was nostrilized at the wire.
As reported elsewhere:
Desormeaux Draws Heat For Del Mar Ride But Stewards Issue No Sanction
Jockey Kent Desormeaux met with track stewards on Sunday to discuss one of his rides at Del Mar on Saturday.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the ride in question – which the paper said some referred to as a “non-ride” – occurred in Saturday's fourth race. Desormeaux was aboard What a View in the 1 1/16-mile turf contest, and had a clear lead on the 4-year-old gelding nearing the finish. However, jockey Brice Blanc, who was riding 42-1 outsider Professor Berns, shot through an opening on the rail and nailed Desormeaux and What a View by a nose on the wire.
It appeared to many horseplayers and racing fans that Desormeaux had stopped riding his mount a couple of strides from the wire, thinking he had the race won.
Stewards ultimately decided not to sanction Desormeaux, voting 2 to 1 in favor of the jockey. Scott Chaney was the only official who felt Desormeaux stopped riding.
“The horse is hard to ride, but for two strides he let up on his mount. Then the horse came up inside, and he got back down to salvage it,” Chaney told the Union-Tribune.
Based on the above, the debate about whether his punishment will be a deterrent or not may ultimately be moot, because there might not be any punishment at all...
