Kentucky Derby Disqualification, Post-Mortem

[DGroundhog]

I didn't agree with taking MS down because it is the Derby. I also had MS, Tacitus and Roadster alive in the Oaks/Derby double so I suppose I'm a little biased, but it was only a couple hundred bucks so I don't think it is clouding my judgment too much. None of my strictly Derby bets would have won no matter the decision.

Watching the race live I was wondering 'WTF is Tyler doing?'. His horse was rank, ran up on MS's rear and appeared to me to force his way into a hole that wasn't there. Tyler tweeted he was 'anticipating a spot' but then deleted that tweet.

I also see the other side. Some angles make it look like MS almost caused a disaster. Other angles suggest WoW may have been at fault. Either way, a decision was made and that is pretty much that.

There were a lot of ticked off people at the track after that decision. I heard arguments that I thought might turn into fisticuffs.

The bigger issue is that almost every Objection/Inquiry is a coin flip on what the decision will be. I'm wrong as often as not on what decision the stewards are going to make.

Track regulars have learned to accept this - but the casual fan is pretty much clueless as to what is happening.

In the NFL if there is a call that is being reviewed the announcers watch the replay and give their opinions. 95% of the time you know what decision the refs are going to make. We don't have that in racing.

You might see the replay a few times, but the track announcer isn't giving any insight. Everybody pretty much bites their tongue and holds their breath waiting for a decision.

That's not good for the sport and in this instance there were probably 15 pissed off bettors for every bettor that was giddy their 65-1 bomb won.

DRF's Matt Bernier tweeted during the inquiry that he didn't think they would take the horse down. Then he makes a video saying only people with money on MS think the wrong decision was made. What? He tweeted in real time one opinion, then claims only MS bettors were objecting?

I was really hoping for Mott to win a Derby this year - but I thought Tacitus would be the horse to do it. I couldn't be happy for him winning it like this.

[PaceAdvantage]

Originally Posted by DGroundhog

DRF's Matt Bernier tweeted during the inquiry that he didn't think they would take the horse down. Then he makes a video saying only people with money on MS think the wrong decision was made. What? He tweeted in real time one opinion, then claims only MS bettors were objecting?

Nobody had all the info, all the views of the infraction, during the time the objection was actually being reviewed (ie. REAL TIME).

Now you're just going way out of your way to find ANYTHING to post about this now VERY dead horse.

I didn't think they would DQ him either in REAL TIME. a) because they never DQ horses in big races unless they commit virtual murder & b) because the camera views they were showing on NBC that *I* saw didn't make it look as bad as it actually was, when later, other views became available that weren't shown a zillion times on NBC in REAL TIME.

After I saw all the available evidence, then I became absolutely convinced the DQ was the correct call.

[highnote]

Originally Posted by PaceAdvantage

After I saw all the available evidence, then I became absolutely convinced the DQ was the correct call.

It's interesting how people can see the same things and come to different conclusions.

When I saw the race live and the replays during the live broadcast I thought MS should be DQ'd. But when I saw more evidence over the next day or so and did my own analysis it seemed obvious that WOW's jock was at fault for moving too aggressively into a hole that had not fully opened up which caused WOW to run into MS which then caused caused MS to veer out.