Worst DQ Call At Yonkers

[Sea Biscuit]

The #5 Second Hand News was DQed for 'causing confusion' in the race.

Causing confusion generally means the front end horse is going so slow that the horses right behind him on the rail are literally running into/over him. In this particular case the horses behind the #5 horse could hardly keep up with him and he won the race fair and square wire to wire.

Take a look at this video

http://replays.robertsstream.com/rac...1206292115YON7

[harness2008]

Wow, that is a tough one. He did slow a tad after the first 1/8 mile which caused a slight backup but that is really nitpicking. If you notice the four horses directly behind him all ran up on each other with the fifth horse breaking at that point. I wouldn't think that would be enough for a DQ but they saw it another way. Thats what you call a really bad beat.

[toetoe]

The second quarter wasn't even that slow for trotters. I saw a similar quarter last night in a pace, I think. Anyway, presumably they saw the infraction in that first furlong. I'm just wondering whether the clocking helped their decision.

[Sea Biscuit]

Originally Posted by toetoe

The second quarter wasn't even that slow for trotters. I saw a similar quarter last night in a pace, I think. Anyway, presumably they saw the infraction in that first furlong. I'm just wondering whether the clocking helped their decision.

The first quarter was a fairly fast 28.2 for trotters.

[harness2008]

I'm not siding with the judges decision at all and I think it stinks. True, the first quarter was not at all on the slow side, however for that short portion of the race after the first 1/8 mile its obvious that the brakes were tapped which caused the other horses to somewhat run up on the horse ahead of them resulting in a break for one of them. You can definately see the pinball effect, although slight of the horses behind Second Hand News.

I think its because of the breaking horse that the red flag went up, I'm thinking if that horse didn't break then perhaps they would have let it go. I'm just glad I didn't bet this race and had Second Hand News with a large wager because there would have been some broken items in my house.

[Saratoga_Mike]

Originally Posted by Sea Biscuit

The first quarter was a fairly fast 28.2 for trotters.

This has to be one of the worst harness-racing DQs of all time. The judges take issue with a second quarter of 30 2/5 for trotters on a half-mile track? What if the second quarter was 30? What if he went the first quarter in 29 2/5 and the same half? Idiotic.

Anyway, I've always thought this was the dumbest of all rules. Actually I've never seen a DQ because of it, just drivers getting fined. The goal is to win the race. If the rest of the drivers are too dumb to pull and force a slow pace, then that's too bad. Fine everyone in the race except for the guy on the lead who is trying to win! And certainly don't penalize winning bettors!

[CHeCK EyE]

The first time I heard this rule I felt the same way. Dumb on the part of the other drivers for not pulling, but at the same time if you pull and get hung you screw yourself out of a check. Not saying I agree with sitting in, just playing devil's advocate. But the same thing happened in the Ben Franklin Final with Meirs Hanover! Cheddar got the lead and immediately tried to slow causing We Will See to slow, in turn causing Meirs to slow but he couldn't and ran up Pierce back and eventually went off stride. No DQ, no inquiry there. In the Yonkers race it wasn't a matter of slowing down the pace that caused the DQ, it had to be the fact that slowing down as quickly as he did caused Manzi's horse behind him to go off stride because he ran up the back of the guy in front. I'm no driver, but if you put yourself in a car in the same situation, wouldn't you have trouble slamming the breaks and not hitting the guy in front? IDK

[thespaah]

Originally Posted by Sea Biscuit

The #5 Second Hand News was DQed for 'causing confusion' in the race.

Causing confusion generally means the front end horse is going so slow that the horses right behind him on the rail are literally running into/over him. In this particular case the horses behind the #5 horse could hardly keep up with him and he won the race fair and square wire to wire.

Take a look at this video

http://replays.robertsstream.com/rac...1206292115YON7

I think the judges were confused.
This looked like a normal race to me. The fractional times were honest. The pace was honest throughout.
Section 1...
Section 1. Although a leading horse is entitled to any part of the track except after
selecting his position in the home stretch, neither the driver of the first horse or any
other driver in the race shall do any of the following things, which shall be considered
violation of driving rules:
(g) Sit down in front of a horse or take up abruptly in front of other horses so as to
cause confusion or interference among trailing horses.
(i) Commit any act which shall impede the progress of another horse or cause
him to break.
These are the only two possibilities I could find..
Link:
http://www.ustrotting.com/pdf/USTARuleBook.pdf

[CHeCK EyE]

That makes a little more sense than just claiming he 'caused confusion'. It is a tough DQ, but it was a putrid explanation. If they were to explain the abrupt back down causing a break of an other horse, OK yeah it sucks, but it would make a ton more sense. But again, it happened in the Ben Franklin with Meirs Hanover and nothing....Unless Meirs just ran up Pierce back on his own

[MickJ26]

So a thoroughbred jockey is allowed to slow it down on the front end, but, a harness driver isn't? Is it because the bikes are cumbersome and makes passing difficult? Sorry, just trying to be clear here.

[Saratoga_Mike]

Originally Posted by MickJ26

So a thoroughbred jockey is allowed to slow it down on the front end, but, a harness driver isn't? Is it because the bikes are cumbersome and makes passing difficult? Sorry, just trying to be clear here.

Yes, that's the theory. The rule is idiotic.

[MickJ26]

If I owned the horse that got taken down, I don't think I'd ever run my horse back at Yonkers again. I wonder if the stewards make that same call if it were Brennan or Sears driving.

[badcompany]

In thirty years of watching Yonkers, I've never seen a DQ even close to being that bad, and I can't recall ever seeing a race when the speed and pocket horse finished 1-2, and they BOTH got taken down. Why did the 1 get taken down? For running too fast?

Throw in Gregory sitting in forth with the favorite, and it's very difficult to label the race as anything but "Shady."

[baconswitchfarm]

Throw in Gregory sitting in forth with the favorite, and it's very difficult to label the race as anything but "Shady."[/QUOTE]
That sums up yonkers for thirty years.

[badcompany]

Originally Posted by Saratoga_Mike

This has to be one of the worst harness-racing DQs of all time. The judges take issue with a second quarter of 30 2/5 for trotters on a half-mile track? What if the second quarter was 30? What if he went the first quarter in 29 2/5 and the same half? Idiotic.

Anyway, I've always thought this was the dumbest of all rules. Actually I've never seen a DQ because of it, just drivers getting fined. The goal is to win the race. If the rest of the drivers are too dumb to pull and force a slow pace, then that's too bad. Fine everyone in the race except for the guy on the lead who is trying to win! And certainly don't penalize winning bettors!

For judges to reverse a result, the infraction should be blatant; otherwise, what's the point of getting excited about a race when you know the results can easily be changed?

I doubt there was a single person who watched that race and thought to themselves, "They should take down the #5."

It's as though Yonkers is trying to alienate the few remaining fans the sport has left.