Saratoga Stack 7.30.23
Saratoga Stack 7.30.23
Forte a winner but not without controversary
Racing and controversy just seem to go together.
Sunday at Saratoga!
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The video above starts on the far turn in Saturday’s Jim Dandy Stakes. At the top of the stretch with Saudi Crown on the lead, Forte pushes out on Angel of Empire trying to make room for a run in deep stretch. He eventually gets through, fights to the wire and nails Saudi Crown to take the Jim Dandy for trainer Todd Pletcher and owner Mike Repole.
On the first view of the replay, I had two simple thoughts - yes Forte and jockey Irad Ortiz came out and fouled Angel of Empire. And no, there is no way this horse is coming down. Not in that spot.
I think Forte was best yesterday - get got a 105 Beyer for his win. But I also think Irad fouled Angel of Empire when he came out. Enough for a DQ? It’s close and given Irad’s history as an aggressive rider, I’d lean 51-49 yes.
But I’ll go back to what we wrote here Wednesday.
Except in NY, where the steward’s decisions seem as random as the algorithm for my Threads feed.
There is just no consistency. We’ll see a horse taken down at this meet for much, much less. That’s a lock. And that lack of consistency race to race in adjudicating fouls is a much bigger issue than this one, bad non-DQ.
Go back to Thursday. Irad forced a horse to pull up sharply in the lane and was DQ’d. Yesterday - while not the same - was another case where his horse affected another when he came out. And did not come down.
It’s just sort of random and that’s the real issue.
This was all decided after just a four-minute review. From the Daily Racing Form:
Responding to a request for comment, the stewards’ released the following statement through the NYRA press department. “Following a review of the entirety of the stretch run, the Board of Stewards determined that there was no action taken that would have altered the outcome of the race. As a result, no change was made to the order of finish.”
It set off a social media firestorm of people claiming it was the worst call ever and THEY’RE NEVER BETTING SARATOGA AGAIN! Of course, they’re already planning their bets for today.
DQ or no DQ, Irad deserves a fine or a few days’ suspension for this week of riding. We’ll see if he gets it.
As for the race, it played out almost exactly how we thought it would, minus our idea that Two Minute Pick Disarm would run by them all. Disarm hung back in last off a tepid pace and made up little ground in the stretch, beating only Hit Show home.
Liked Angel of Empire getting involved early and wish Disarm got that trip.
One more note on the race and the track: once the real rains came, the main track seemed pretty friendly to speed. Check the chart for the last three races. I’m not ready to bail on Disarm in the Travers. I hope they still run him there.
Elite Power was awesome in running down Gunite in the Amsterdam.
We had a few nice winners posted here on the early part of the card. That was good.
The weather is going to be terrific there today, but with multiple races off the turf, the card takes a hit.
Off the turf for Race 3 and our Two Minute Pick presented NYRA Bets.
I’ll be watching for MTO overlay plays so not a lot to give you now. As always, there will be a horse or two that gets lost in the betting on a day like today. Hopefully, our pick is one of those.
In Race 2, I can make a real case that Dashing Della could be the horse to beat - but you’re up against Linda in there.
If you’re playing the Pick 5, I think Chad is a safe single in Race 5.
Race 6 has some very expensive horses - watch the board. On paper, the Bill Mott horse looks live.
Going to be tough to beat Breeders’ Cup Turf champ Rebel’s Romance in the Bowling Green.
Good luck if you’re playing. Even with a few races off the green a fun card.
Back Wednesday to kick off week number four at Saratoga.