Caveat all of this with I know next to nothing about horse racing.
I just watched the replay and summary of yesterday's shenanigans and all I can really say is WTH. If this were any auto race the driver would be getting applauded for using smart racing tactics and winning with his/her brain.
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Because in horse racing like track they have "lanes".
I know about the same amount as you about horse racing. I usually watch some of the Triple Crown and nothing else. But I think the difference is in the risk of injury to both horse and rider. And those are very fragile horses that sometimes can't heal from injury. And they are worth millions. I think we were very close to seeing millions of dollars worth of horses damaged yesterday.
It may have been the alcohol, but that was all so confusing yesterday.
Bottom line, a horse is allowed a slight lane drift based on the natural turn of the track. In this instance, the horse went out three or four lanes, nearly causing a catastrophe if one hoof was in a different place.
Did the best horse of the day win...no
Was the rule applied to the letter of the law...yes
Has this rule been applied consistently in the past...no, this was the first time it was needed in this scenario, however it has been used in the past, down the order
The right call was made, and it changed the outcome of the game. Unlike the phantom pass interference call Miami-OSU or VT-USC, there is video evidence of the lane drift and the bottlenecking effect on the other horses.
Thanks - That definitely helps explain it...
you also forgot to mention the incomplete TD pass to Coale against Michigan...
If it truly has a significant effect on multiple horses, would it not make sense to rerun the race? I didn't watch anything so maybe that happened.
No need. Breeders know which horse is the fastest and that is all that matters to them. That is where the real money is.
Those horses won't be ready to run another race like that for several weeks.
And Maximum Security will be able to prove he was the best horse in the Preakness Stakes if the Owners/Trainer want to run him. As the Preakness is longer than the Derby he might be able to pull even farther ahead.
The Maximum Security trainers have already said he's not running at the Preakness.
Missed that. Thanks.
Fair enough but this kinda leads to the point that the sport is ridiculous and shouldn't exist if it's that dangerous to the animals.
I agree.
I dont know about horse racing but I assume it has to do with etiquette and how a horse should win because it is the fastest, not because it raced the best.
If this were any auto race the driver would be getting applauded for using smart racing tactics and winning with his/her brain.
Cars are easily fixed or replaced. Horses...
From an article in Time on May 3...
And the races are really just a way to determine how much the horse is worth as a breeder. Owners don't want to lose millions in stud fees to a preventable race injury. The real value of a Triple Crown victory is in future earnings.
Bet that horse was lividly pissed.
Maxiumim Security (#7) swung about a lane wide, at which point the #1 horse clipped the back of #7 causing the horse to shoot another 2 or 3 lanes wide. as soon as MS was clear and not being run into he went back. I dont know all of the rules for horse racing, but I didnt see anything intentional about the move.
it doesn't matter if it was intentional, the jockey's job is to keep the horse on his line in accordance with the rules. He says the horse got spooked and moved over before he could get it under control. He failed at his job.
The critical thing to remember is that in horse racing you're not allowed to change lanes without a half-length lead on the horse next to you because their legs go out in front of their noses and far out behind their tails while they're galloping, and if horses clip each other's feet they can break a foot , break an ankle, take a tumble and break a leg, and that is a death sentence.
Watch the video, how those horses didn't kick each other was a miracle. That could have been catastrophic.
Yep, this. MS wasn't DQ'd because of consequences of anything that happened (though, it can be argued that his bump ended the day for #1 and #7), he was DQ'd because the only reason we didn't see multiple horses euthanized on the track after a very, very ugly pileup is because of the actions of the jockeys of the impacted horses to immediately back off and effectively give up their chances at the title.
What happened was incredibly dangerous to the point where they had to make an example or it would have set a very bad and very dangerous precedent going forward.
Can't argue with the results, but was sort of heartbreaking to see the jockey on Maximum Security talk about how great it was to win, right before they stripped it all away from him.
Thrill of Victory -------> Agony of Defeat
And for the owners they had been in racing for 40 years and never won anything big. Heck they hadn't even had a horse in the Derby for over a decade. They did nothing wrong.
Every time a horse race is on, I just hope the race ends with no horses needing to be put down.
I still remember Eight Belles getting euthanized on the track immediately following her place. She never left the racing surface.
Went to the Jim Dandy a couple years back for a bachelor's party. On Friday we went over to the track to watch some of the small purse races. Walk in as a race starts and they had to bring the wagon out, really put a damper on the mood.