Record, or Teletimer Error?
Internal fractions for the Whitney were :23.86, :23.51, :22.91, :24.07, and :12.29. NYRA is looking into the possibility of a Teletimer error, possibly in the third quarter. If the final time is right, Lawyer Ron’s Whitney Beyer figure would be 128 — a number achieved only by Ghostzapper in recent years.
Update: Although the timing mystery hasn’t been solved, Lawyer Ron has been assigned a provisional 116 Beyer for the race. Like a lot of others after reading Crist’s post, I watched and clocked the Whitney a few times and came up with times similar to the official time. The timer might have been off, but it would seem more likely the already speed-favoring track (with the exception of one race won by a horse closing from the rear, and another won by a horse three lengths off the lead at first call, all of the races were won by horses on the lead or within 1 1/2 lengths at first call, including the Whitney) was tweaked for a fast feature. What will be interesting is seeing how the Whitney starters run back. How aberrant was this race?
Addendum: Lawyer Ron’s record time of 1:46.64 has been confirmed. If only NYRA had Trakus — then all the confusion could have been avoided, although the debate over Lawyer Ron’s final Beyer of 116 would probably still happen. Dick Jerardi has a DRF+ column up explaining how the final figure was arrived at by its maker.
As Nellie points out in her comment, Lawyer Ron will be retired by the end of year; Stonewall is already hyping his Whitney win to broodmare owners.
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