As soon as the rider of MS said the horse spooked and it took a few seconds before he got “control” again, there was an admission of losing control of the horse. The horse MS made contact with was #1, who had just bumped #18 out of his way. It wasn’t contact that got MS disqualified, it was loss of control by the rider, who admitted it. If anyone should have been disqualified for contact, it was #1. As far as anyone being fired for this...IT’S A HORSETRACK! It’s run by HORSETRACK people who take money from people all year long. This is the one event they try to clean up for every year. Thank goodness it isn’t a harness race.
Careful... Oily Rebel will call you "absurd" for saying what you saw.
Watchmaker's article hints at the REAL reason for this fiasco. The Snobs that run Churchill don't like this trainer. They think (but can't prove) he's cheating. ie; doping.... his horses.
NO WAY in hell they would have DQ'q a Baffert horse, or Pletcher horse for that minimal bumping that occurred.
You can watch almost ANY Kentucky Derby and see bumping, swaying, loss of control... etc, at some point in the race. Just last year, there was PLENTY of it, at the same point in the race, behind Justify. No one ever objects.
The stewards Didn't flag anything in this race. But, the racing elite don't like this trainer, or owner. So, they decided to treat him differently.
Now, we won't have the true Derby winner in the Preakness (He would have won it). And, we're likely looking at a lengthy, very ugly law suit. It's going to be a mess.. for a very long time.
Whatever you think about the foul it didn’t change the outcome of the race so the DQ wasn’t appropriate.