Posted on 06/10/2018 5:41:53 PM PDT by ml/nj
What I say here I don't say lightly.
Yesterday I attended my 53rd consecutive Belmont Stakes. I have the highest regard for trainer Bob Baffert. Though based in California, he regularly ships in horses to run in big races in NY (and elsewhere). Last year on Belmont Day he entered horses in four races and they all won. This year he entered horses in three races and won them all. This is no mean feat. But this year one of his horses did not win. (Huh?)
Baffert entered two horses in the Belmont Stakes. The other horse they probably didn't talk much about on TV was Restoring Hope who broke from post position #5. He was ridden by Florent Geroux, one of the best riders in the country, IMHO.
Geroux broke second to last on Restoring Hope. He then rushed the horse up to split the pack of horses in front of him. Noble Indy, the #9, was expected to contend for the early lead that might have put some pressure on Justify early. And Noble Indy did break alertly and looked like he might run early as expected, but Restoring Hope broke through the horses in front of him carrying Noble Indy extremely wide. Restoring Hope continued unnaturally wide until he cut over toward the rail and appeared to shut off Bravaso who was racing just behind Justify who looked as if he might be ranging up to challenge Justify. Thereafter, Geroux kept Restoring Hope just behind and outside Justify so that any other horse that might challenge would have to go three wide.
I saw none of this myself until alerted today about it by a friend at my club who showed me a race replay. I asked him whether anything was said about it on the TV coverage and he said nothing was said. But of course nothing was said. Justify was the hero of the media, in a way similar to the way Obama was a hero of the media.
Replays are available and nyra.com. Once there you want to select the races of June 9th, and then the 11th race. Two views are available, the usual "pan" view and the "head-on" view (which seems to most omit the most egregious interference with Bravaso). There is also a replay available at NBC where the interference with Bravaso is more obvious.
The Racing Form has an article about this: Horsemen question Geroux's ride on Restoring Hope.
It is my opinion that Baffert and Geroux should be suspended indefinitely. Justify should be disqualified from the purse money and consideration as the Belmont and Triple Crown winner.
Even if one of the jockeys in yesterday's race would have claimed foul, I believe it could only have been against Geroux and Restoring Hope (who finished next to last). It used to be that if a trainer or owner had more than one starter in a race, they had to run as a coupled entry. Then, if one fouled another horse in a race, all of the coupled horse would be placed behind the fouled horse. Yesterdays's race shows that horses with a common interest must run as a coupled entry if they are even allowed to start in the same race.
ML/NJ
I noticed the same thing during the race Saturday. Thought it was dirty. Tried to think of a name for it, and the only thing that came to mind was “stalking horse,” which doesn’t quite fit.
It was mentioned but the announcers said it was fine that the rider was blocking.
tough..
i don’t care about horse racing but was rooting like hell for Justify as, some may remember, after American Pharoah won the triple crown in 2015 one of obama’s butty’s (david plouffe??) took to twitter and gave obama credit for the triple crown since Pharoah was the first horse in 30 years to pull it off...
hence once again it took President Trump 1/7th the amount of time to accomplish something it took obama...
It doesn’t really matter than George Soros is part owner of Justify, does it?
I figured this would be about the decision not to run Audible, thus making a Triple Crown more likely. Justify led from the beginning to the end.
He has a 13% share, AFAIK.
I assume that’s the back end of the horse (snicker)
soros owns the ass portion of the horse...
I’m still waiting for the horse that can finish 35 lengths ahead of the field and break all of Secretariat’s records.
I don’t expect to live that long.
Not particularly. His investment company owns 15% of the breeding rights. It’s a safe bet anyone involved with training and racing the horse knows nothing about that at all. The poorly written report even seems to suggest that the Soros company had already flipped the investment before the race even began.
It's only fine the same way Obama didn't have to produce a real birth certificate.
In the old days, if the jockey on Noble Indy had claimed foul, both of Baffert's horses would have been placed behind Noble Indy, which is to say last and second to last. Suspensions would have been automatic.
ML/NJ
I was hoping the guy with the rifle would have to come out.
That is part of racing... positioning...
Soros owns 15% of the winner horse. Any unsavory tactics used to win the race would be expected.
The name for it is "Soros"
It’s only fine the same way Obama didn’t have to produce a real birth certificate.
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Speaking of which, check this out
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3662053/posts
A company that he is connected to will get 15% of Justify's stud profits.
That is different then partly owning the horse.
The smooth muscle part.
In b-ball it is called a picket or a pick... I think.
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