Yesterday's Santa Anita Handicap could go down as one of the most contraversial finishes ever. In the final stretch there where 3 horses who had a chance to get the win, favored Twirling Candy and longshots Setsuko and Game On Dude. Those three where fighting it out for the lead when contact was made that made Twirling Candy go sideways and make might have even more contact with Setsuko and Game on Dude. Eventually Twirling Candy backed up and Quechi Man made one last push to get to the top two, but couldn't Game on Dude beat Setsuko by a long nose.
After about 20 minutes of waiting for the stewards to make their decision on weather to take down Game On Dude and elevate to Setsuko, they decided not to make any changes. This was a very contraversial move as many thought that the winner should have been taken down. Now granted many of those people had Twirling Candy on their tickets, but even if G Dude had been taken down, TC still would not have been in the top three.
With Tweebster finishing uptrack I didn't have a dog in the fight, but I liked Setsuko for a while now so part of me wanted to see him elevated. However, the winning jockey was Chantal Sutherland who along with Rosie Napravnik and Emma-Jayne Watson are three of the best female jockeys in North America. So I was hoping that G Dude would not be taken down. Of course that was being the case. My thoughts immedatly went to the three horses involved in the scuffle, G Dude, TC and Set. I had hoped that they all came out of the race fine, but it sounds like that Setsuko was injured. A shame because he has been through a lot the past year (he was ill and put on anti biotics). Lets hope that it's not an more serious injury. No word on G Dude or Twirling Candy.
Did the stewards make the right call not to take down Game On Dude? Take a look for yourselves,
Leave a comment in the bottom of this post and I'll include some of them in a post with the weekend recap next week!
Thoroughbred Chat wrote:
ReplyDeleteHowever, the winning jockey was Chantal Sutherland who along with Rosie Napravnik and Emma-Jayne Watson are three of the best female jockeys in North America. So I was hoping that G Dude would not be taken down.
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I think it is irrelevant which jockey was aboard. The goal should remain - be fair and impartial to the competitors.
With visual evidence that Game on Dude bumped Twirling Candy twice yet no DQ was made makes me press for more transparency from two of the three stewards responsible.
For the record I had no wager on this race but it won't be long before controversy such as these happen at other racetracks. Consistency and explanation of the rules should be required.
"I think it is irrelevant which jockey was aboard. The goal should remain - be fair and impartial to the competitors. "
ReplyDeleteIt was clear that Bob told Chantal what to say in to the Stewards. But that's not the point I was making. What I was saying that while I would have been happy for Setsuko to get the win, it would have been nice for Chantal to get the win because female jockeys don't win big races every day in the US. Just look at this race the past three years though,
Helen Pitts became the first female trainer to win.
Last year Jill Baffert and this year with Chantal.
Ms. Sutherland may have other opportunities to gain a Grade 1. And I do believe she'd like to do it fairly and squarely. This one unfortunately, is tainted.
ReplyDeleteI am not a steward. Just my best judgment how I see it happened.
ReplyDeleteIt appears to me, that almost simultaneously Setsuko and Twirling Candy, on account of their respective somewhat slight change of paths begin the chain of events meeting. Both of which, is relatively subtle but then their collision ends up being significant starting horses to bounce off each other pinball effect.
After the initial contact between Twirling Candy and Setsuko, Twirling Candy comes over into Game On Dude. Twirling Candy toward Game On Dude is less significant than Game On Dude back toward Twirling Candy. I don't think that if Twirling Candy maintains coarse forward, Game On Dude comes over on toward Twirling Candy.
The initial contact between Twirling Candy and Setsuko is the cause in my best estimation. However, neither is what I would deem irresponsible riding behavior or particularly obstructive. It is the freak nature of these two slight changes of path happening at once cause for the event.
Game On Dude coming over was resulting from contact from Twirling Candy. Which, I would say shared equal responsibility with Setsuko for the the chain of events.
Having said that, Setsuko was gaining momentum as Twirling Candy was beginning to tail off. That may also have been a contributing factor for Twirling Candy's initial contact with Setsuko.
Game On Dude was running strong. Did not initiate the cause for Setsuko losing this race. That said, absent "the event" it is certainly conceivable he could have won. Though, one could argue that had that happened, an objection could have been lodged against him as he made initial contact to Game On Dude. That would have been the result of the initial contact with Twirling Candy that he alone I cannot say was responsible for.
Had there been no chain of events, I would say that Setsuko wins the race. Though however, Game On Dude was not the cause of the initial contact that thus caused him to come back over once made contact with. I would have had a difficult time taking down Game On Dude. Or, Setsuko for that matter. I can understand where those supporting Setsuko are coming from. As for Twirling Candy, it wasn't in the cards this day.
I can't say absolutely which horse Twirling Candy or Setsuko is more to blame. One is drifting in, the other out. I will say that Twirling Candy is losing momentum whereas Setsuko is gaining. Twirling Candy, has least momentum of the top four finishers. Game On Dude did bump hard into Setsuko but that was resulting from the contact from Setsuko. As a consequence of, he and Twirling Candy colliding he was not the sole cause.
Didn't bet the race. We can disagree about the outcome. The bad thing about it was the reported injury. It could have potentially been much, much worse resulting in a huge pile up. That, we can all be thankful for not having happened....
Head on view after taking a closer look....I can see the argument where Game On Dude may have been involved initially coming over slightly (toward Twirling Candy). And then again subsequently after Twirling Candy and Setsuko bump together where Twirling Candy comes toward Game On Dude.
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