March
21, 2014
Dear Readers,
I took a long look at the Rebel
Stakes, and I repeatedly hit rewind in order to watch the brouhaha going on in
the stretch run from several angles. By the way, the pin ball action all started at the top
of the stretch when Tapiture’s jockey chose to put it all on the line,
running up on Strong Mandate’s heels and pushed Hoppertunity out
of his way in order to find clear running room. My heart was in my throat, if he’d clipped heels, Tapiture could
have gone down. I’ve seen back tendons severed in similar situations. I hope Strong Mandate is all right.
There is no doubt that Hoppertunity
smacked into Tapiture, who then slammed into Strong Mandate. I
think the stewards must have agreed that the move Tapiture made at the
head of the stretch was just as egregious as the one Hoppertunity made
further down the lane. Thus, the one cancelled out the other. But what about
poor old Strong Mandate, minding his own business, running a strong
race, when he was mugged, both by Hoppertunity and Tapiture. Strong
Mandate wasn’t out of contention when they started fouling him.
Since I’m entitled to
voice my opinion, I felt both horses that fouled Strong Mandate should
have been disqualified and placed behind him. Thus, if I was the one making the call, the order of finish would
have had Ride On Curlin winning the race, with Strong Mandate
second.
That’s not the case, and not what happened, so we'll never know if Strong Mandate would have hung on and made a race of
it all the way to the wire. All we can do is look ahead and use this race to
gauge his chances in future races. I like all four of those horses and its always
unfortunate when a race, as important as the Rebel, ends up a stewards call. I
don't envy them their job. You can't please all the people...yadda yadda.
I have a busy schedule tomorrow, but
I will try to get around to looking over this weekend’s two big races, the
Spiral and the Sunland Derby.
Take care,
Shelley Lee Riley,
author of Casual Lies – A Triple Crown Adventure
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