Santa Anita is a joke again!

[Tom]

All that said, Bayern is a terrific horse.

He has a good left hook.

Good post. To set the record straight, there's no "leeway" because the official response from the judges was that it didn't affect the outcome.

Then how you ever DQ a horse other than at the wire?

[Redboard]

Originally Posted by Tom

I think I have seen enough horse racing for this lifetime.
I had the place horse 6 units to place and 12 units to show.
And I still don't want to ever watch another race.
Especially on a dirt track.

Right, you'll be back tomorrow playing Ft. Erie.

[Tom]

No, not a chance.

[Stillriledup]

Originally Posted by Tom

He has a good left hook.



Then how you ever DQ a horse other than at the wire?

My point was that some people, including Baffert in post race interviews before the inquiry was decided, were saying that there's 'leeway' at the start. But, if we are to believe the judges, Bayern comes down if they thought it affected the outcome. I'm not sure how you can say a horse getting totally clobbered like that, jarred off his feet, didn't affect that horse's chances.

[SmartyLane]

Originally Posted by classhandicapper

I understand the inclination to not DQ horses in major races & also understand the extra leeway given at the start of races. However, Bayern took out the 2-1 favorite and the only other quality speed in the race in one huge bump. I have long argued that DQs should be rare & obvious. But if you don't DQ Bayern there, then no horse should ever be DQ'd for an infraction at the start of a race ever again. That call practically encourages riders to take out their major foes at the start.

For the record, I didn't have a bet on the race. So this is not sour grapes. IMO it's just another inconsistent call. If the calls were consistent, you'd at least know what you were up against. We obviously need some national standards for DQs so people don't have to come away from races feeling like they got screwed.

All that said, Bayern is a terrific horse. He's probably better than I gave him credit for. But IMO he's not the best 3yo in the country. He's had extraordinary good fortune with biases and trips in all his major wins except the Woody Stephens. I really hope the voters realize that CA Chrome and Shared Belief are superior racehorses when it comes time to give out year end awards, but I doubt it.

Completely agree with you.

I love Chrome and had some question on how good SB really is. After this race he showed me how good he is. Moreno who should of been up with Bayern vying for the front was bumping with SB the entire backstretch hindering SB even more than just the first couple furlongs. Worst part about the race is we can all agree the race was not run giving all horses a shot. As mentioned above, you tell me Bayern has lone lead entire way around, I am unloading the savings account on him. Entire structure of race changed 50 ft from start. Very unfortunate, Chrome ran good race and SB really is real deal to get 4th considering.

Edit: what the heck was Rosario thinking to let Tona be so far out of it. He had no shot at the leaders but still closed lots of ground.

[classhandicapper]

Originally Posted by Stillriledup

My point was that some people, including Baffert in post race interviews before the inquiry was decided, was saying that there's 'leeway' at the start. But, if we are to believe the judges, Bayern comes down if they thought it affected the outcome. I'm not sure how you can say a horse getting totally clobbered like that, jarred off his feet, didn't affect that horse's chances.

It's preposterous to say it didn't effect his chances. They are full of crap. It also took out Moreno which further changed the race.

The leeway comes from the understanding that there is a lot of incidental and accidental contact at the start of races. If you start DQ'ing horses for every bump at the start, you'd rarely get a race without an inquiry. But this was not incidental and it took out the favorite and the other major speed. Both had a huge impact. If they can't tell that everything about the race changed dramatically at the start for several major contenders, then they should not be in a decision making position.

[Mr_Ed]

3 lengths out of the gate SB is turned to a 10 o'clock position.

[Stillriledup]

Originally Posted by classhandicapper

It's preposterous to say it didn't effect his chances. They are full of crap. It also took out Moreno which further changed the race.

The leeway comes from the understanding that there is a lot of incidental and accidental contact at the start of races. If you start DQ'ing horses for every bump at the start, you'd rarely get a race without an inquiry. But this was not incidental and it took out the favorite and the other major speed. If they can't tell that everything about the race changed dramatically at the start, then they should not be in a decision making position.

no doubt, totally agree.

[Tom]

If they can't tell that everything about the race changed dramatically at the start, then they should not be in a decision making position.

In their defense, they checked the replays, they checked with the riders, they checked their rickets....

Back when Sirius/XM had a racing channel, they had HRTV on at noon, and one of the California stewards was on every Thursday.

The guy was a total jerk.

[Stillriledup]

Privman unloading on the judges.

https://twitter.com/DRFPrivman

[FrankieFigs]

I'm still cracking up at those that are still proclaiming a "speed bias" because Bayern goes wire-to-wire. The reason why no one was gaining at the end is due to him getting an easy lead and having something left in the tank in the stretch.

[thespaah]

Originally Posted by Stillriledup

Here's the problem. The information that i've already spent time accumulating is useless. I want to be able to use THAT information. I spend plenty of time on replays making trip notes and other stuff and i don't do that so i can throw it out the window and bet on the horse i THINK is going to get the lead in the first 3 strides of the race.

Well, credit yourself with another astute observation.
This is my gripe. My number one peeve.
That is when the track management "plays" with the surface to favor one type of running style over another.

[iceknight]

This will SURELY get lot more new fans to Horse Racing!!

[DJofSD]

Do we believe the best stewards were in charge today? Are the stewards something the BC Ltd. has any control over?

[thespaah]

The track DID change throughout the day. It appeared to be playing relatively even as the day wore on.
Perhaps the product of the track drying out a bit and this giving horses a chance to forge forward from mid pack.
For example, Tonalist was over at Bel Aire Country Club getting in a quick 9 holes as the field reached the 3/8ths and he ended up a credible 5th.
One can surmise the result had Tonalist been closer up at that point.
Tonalist made up 10 lengths from the 1/4 pole. And 5 lengths from the stretch call