After reviewing the race, Maryland stewards determined that jockey Ramon Dominguez wasn’t at fault for the incident at the top of the stretch in the Preakness, when he struck Scrappy T and the horse veered into Afleet Alex’s path. “He hit him one time,” said steward Bill Passmore. “How many horses do you hit left-handed and they don’t move?” (Washington Post)
Dominguez apologized immediately after the race, and Jeremy Rose graciously accepted. Trainer Tim Ritchey was noticeably more upset that day and the next, but even he won’t say much more than, “My father said a long time ago that if you don’t have anything good to say about anybody, don’t say anything.” It was a display of good sportsmanship all around. Peter Schmuck thinks an opportunity was missed:
Everybody acts like it’s business as usual, and an opportunity to turn the moment into a week of highlights on SportsCenter vanished faster than the bankrolls of all the people who put their trust in my handicapping ability at The Sun’s snazzy tent party earlier in the day.
There is a reason that NASCAR is the fastest-growing major sport in America and horse racing is struggling to hold on to its audience. If this were a stock car race, there would have been a rumble on pit road and everybody would be talking about it for days….
Don’t they realize that we live in a sports world that thrives on conflict and controversy? Didn’t they get the memo about the importance of being orneriest?
The same kind of move in the Daytona 500 would have caused a 20-car pileup — and created the kind of emotion that can turn a sporting event into a passion play.
Rose and Dominguez took the higher road — and maybe that’s what makes horse racing the great sport it is — but it sure doesn’t sell T-shirts. (Baltimore Sun)
Conflict and controversy — doesn’t Schmuck follow racing headlines? The sport has enough of both. We need more displays of good behavior from owners, trainers, and jockeys like the ones we’ve seen post-Kentucky Derby and Preakness.
Posted by JC in Triple Crown on 05/23/2005 @ 12:15 pm / Follow @railbird on Twitter
“Or at least he’s the best at many, if not most, distances that are commonly run, and he’s best at most racetracks, on most surfaces, under most circumstances and on most days. He’s consistently, reliably and even tenaciously superior, if superiority is measured in terms of sustained performance.” Question: What else would superiority be measured by? (Star-Telegram)
Posted by JC in Horses on 05/23/2005 @ 12:10 pm / Follow @railbird on Twitter
Trainer LeRoy Jolley pops up at Suffolk Tuesday, with a horse named Louie Na’ssal in the ninth race, a six furlong allowance event that’s attracted a pretty good field for a weekday card. Ten are entered, including Lucky Sherman, who ran third at Churchill Downs on May 1 in a claiming $30,000 race, and Symbolic Times, a former California runner who’s returning from a layoff of more than year.
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Sunday’s Hot Dog Safari was a success for the Joey Fund, an organization founded to fund cystic fibrosis research. More than 30,000 people braved the chilly weather to eat more than 150,000 hot dogs, meet local sports stars and politicians, and watch nine live races specially carded for the day. (Boston Herald)
Posted by JC in Suffolk Downs on 05/23/2005 @ 12:05 pm / Follow @railbird on Twitter
