REMINGTON PARK, RACE 2, 9/18

[Space Monkey]

I liked the 2 but I decided to pass on the race. I watched it anyway for future considerations. The 1 takes a hard right out of the gate, slams into the 2, who in turn knocks the 3 so hard he drops back so far he is done. The 2 recovers, races into a contending position, then hangs to finish 4th. The 1 rallies and finishes second. No foul claim, no stewards inquiry. Nothing. It's another way the game has changed for the worse. It seems like there no such thing as a foul out of the gate anymore.

[RXB]

The local stewards told me that they give about a three-jump grace period since they know it's pretty hard to control horses in a precise path when they break.

In the race you mentioned, the #5 and #6 also bumped out of the gate, with the #5 then veering after impact into the #4, who was forced across the #3's path and also banged into the #2. The whole inside was a rodeo for the first few strides. I agree with you that it's a bit strange that there wasn't an inquiry.

[Space Monkey]

Thanks RX, I didn't catch the outside horses bumping as I had tunnel vision (bad) on the horse I was interested in. Logical explanation by the stewards, but 3 strides or not, there has to be a limit when a horse takes a complete turn first stride out of the gate. I think the stewards are wrong to turning a blind eye until the 4th stride. Having a blanket rule like that is taking the easy way out.