Weekend Winners Club

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Wednesday, May 8, 2019. It’s been less than 4 days since America’s biggest race, in which there was an unprecedented disqualification of the actual winner following an objection and a lengthy stewards review, followed by an appeal which was quickly denied, followed by arguments across the world, followed by tempers which are still flaring.
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I’ve had people that used to be friendly to me call me every insulting name you can think because I didn’t agree with the stewards decision. But it’s not just me who disagrees, it’s by far the majority of experienced horse people in the industry, including riders and trainers alike, and speed figures legend Andrew Beyer.
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The sheeple who parrot the cited rule and insult everyone who disagrees with the disqualification, don’t understand some things. First, a lane is an imaginary curved line that is completely subjective to what is going on with the rest of the field. Second, a horse can’t claim ownership of a lane from a horse that is in front of it, only one that is adjacent in some manner.
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There’s a reason there has never been such a disqualification in the history of the Kentucky Derby. It is because such lanes are hard to determine with 20 horses in the field, all changing directions continuously. It has to be concrete proof that there was interference that cost another horse the victory. There was no such thing in this year’s edition.
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And for those sheeple saying there was a previous DQ, yes there was one and it was for illegal drug use, nothing to do with running the race. So this DQ was unprecedented and there is good reason for that. The precedent that has always been used is that there has to be legitimate interference, and as usual, there was none.
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Let me put it this way, I’ve watched every Kentucky Derby for the past 30+ years, and even seen many before that on various video archives. Every one that I’ve seen, and probably every one in history, has had bumping and grinding, early and late, and at least 2 horses clipping heels. And yet, nobody has ever been disqualified. This year what was different? Nothing except the incorrect decision by stewards who don’t understand the sport or this particular race.
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Interestingly, the sheeple who parrot the “right call” mantra over and over until it makes you nauseous, use the following picture to make their point. But in fact, it shows exactly why they are wrong. It clearly shows War of Will (1) running up on the heels of Maximum Security (7). There is no possible way under the rules that #1 has the right of way or ownership of that lane, because he is clearly BEHIND #7.
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That was the official infraction according to the stewards, but another picture the sheeple prefer to use is the one from the straight ahead angle showing War of Will going sideways behind Maximum Security. This wasn’t the infraction, although it should have been the official DQ infraction for WOW.
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They pretend that at this point Max Sec made everybody move out. However, this picture is from the final turn when WOW veered out, two lengths behind the leader Max Sec who could not possibly have had anything to do with it. These other pictures show where WOW was on the rail before the incident, trailing Max Sec by several lengths a few seconds beforehand, and although the angle of the second picture makes them appear crowded, he is still 2 lengths behind the leader.
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The owner of Maximum Security, Gary West, said it best:
“I think when it’s all said and done and all the evidence is put on display, frame by frame in slow motion, you will find that the 1 horse (War of Will) actually caused the infraction, not our horse,” West said. “And … I believe it will eventually show that if the 1 horse would have finished ahead of our horse, we would have had every right in the world to claim an objection against the 1 horse.”
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Gary West is exactly right about that, but all of that should have been said and done by the officials during that eternity of a stewards review, including frame by frame slo-mo, so that they could come up with the right conclusion. Instead, they came up with the exact wrong decision. I don’t know the person who made this video but he’s also exactly right in his analysis.
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War of Will clearly did NOT have the right of way, as shown in the pictures, and his jockey was at fault for running up on the heels of a competitor, a dangerous and unnecessary risk that could have cost both the rider and his horse serious injury or even life. In addition, before that War of Will also jumped to his left unexpectedly, as Maximum Security did a few seconds later.
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Another mostly untold part of the story is that there was a man standing in an unauthorized area of the infield near the quarter pole which is near the end of the last turn. He appears to be taking a picture in this area in which viewers and photography is unauthorized because of it being so close to the track in the very spot where the field is crowded together making their moves on the final turn.
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In short, it’s the most dangerous spot of the track and that’s why you normally don’t see anyone standing there or flashing photographs because one or more of the horses might get spooked. And that appears to be what happened, as War of Will unexpectedly jumped to his right, away from the bystander pictured, after keeping a very predictable and stable course prior to that.
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This brings up another important point. With the sheeple parroting the word “lane” ad nauseum, again this is an imaginary line surrounding the horse. There are no actual lanes in horse racing like there are in track and field, because horses don’t run in lanes and they would ignore the paint even if they saw it. They’re trained wild animals that run in all kinds of directions according to many different factors.
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The most prominent factors in determining a horse’s course are where the other horses are running, how close they are to other horses, and what the jockey is doing to control them via hands, reins, body movement, and the use of the whip of course. Other factors can include fans and other people or animals nearby. Note that you will never see dogs anywhere near the horse track during races.
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The bottom line is that horses don’t run in “lanes.” They run in general direction where the rider coaxes them too, in a curved orbit around the track, from the gate to the finish line. In the process, the riders in general, try to not run into each other because nobody wants to fall off a horse and get trampled.
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In this case of this year’s Kentucky Derby, Tyler Gaffalione took dangerous and unnecessary risks with War of Will, first veering off the rail and to bully and push 2 horses to the outside, and then running up on the heels of the winner instead of picking a clear way around him. If you’re going to ride the rail to save ground, that’s fine, and many have done that successfully such as Calvin Borail.
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But often you get pinned there in a large field and have to wait until somewhere in the stretch for an opening to get through. You can’t just force an opening when it’s not there. Had he waited 1 more second from the infraction point, he could have stayed on the rail and had it to himself and may have had a chance without clipping heels which slowed him down and caused minor injury.
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