Haskell DQ

[Molesap]

Mandaloun at some point this year will win two of the biggest 3YO races by DQ. Cannot imagine that Medina Spirit does not get taken down in the Derby and now the Haskell.

[TreadHead]

One has to wonder if crops were allowed if Prat could/would have ridden differently and been able to control his horse better.

[Flighted Iron]

One has to wonder if crops were allowed if Prat could/would have ridden differently and been able to control his horse better.

 Tread,

   Interesting point.  A full 7 seconds elapsed after Hot Rod straightened out to the point of contact with MB. Fortunately nobody was seriously injured, however since the aforementioned lack of injury took place,what say the people who lost their hard earned money who in fact may risk their lives every day? Monmouth and every other jurisdiction who choose to eliminate and/or restrict the riding crop are without a doubt imo completely out to  lunch!!

[TreadHead]

Not sure what race you were watching, there is no 7 seconds, the clip happens as HRC is still veering in.  Head on is at the end of the video on this page.

https://www.horseracingnation.com/horse/Hot_Rod_Charlie#

[Flighted Iron]

Tread,

 Prat also believes the potentially catastrophic contact could have been avoided. “If I could have hit him just one time left-handed, we would have been just fine,” he told Blood-Horse. “But it is what it is.”

 This is from an article in blood horse. This is the point i was making.

[Bet Twice]

I thought the rule was that they could use it for safety reasons? If Prat felt that there was a safety concern, he could have, in fact, “hit him once on the left side”.  Maybe making that decision in a split second is not realistic,  given the fact that you are mentally telling yourself “I can’t use the crop”.  Having a horse and rider fall like that on a nationally televised event is certainly not “good for racing”.

[Flighted Iron]

Bet,

 In short, I\'m all in on riders carrying and using the whip.


Flighted

[P-Dub]

Agree about carrying and using the whip.

Having said that, It appeared to me that Prat steered his horse down towards the other horse to engage him. I don\'t think the horse \"lugged in\" on his own. Prat thought he was clear and wasn\'t.  I don\'t think the whip rule had anything to do with this.

Watching the head on, the horse appeared to be traveling straight and didn\'t veer inside until prompted by Prat.

Signed,

A guy that has never ridden a horse in his life.

[Flighted Iron]

P-Dub,

 Agree on that possibility, moreover was Prat being subjective? If so, that\'s the worrisome part for me. The lack of the whip creates imo a breakdown in the objective as an athlete. It\'s having a horse receive a few necessary pops vs. Rider and Horse going down. Whoever they are, they have put image over safety of life.


Flighted

[P-Dub]

I am in full agreement about the whip and the absurdity of the rule.

IMO this incident was caused by Prat\'s aggressive riding and had absolutely nothing to do with a whip rule.

[HP]

Prat being “subjective?” I’ll bite, what does that mean? I agree with P-Dub.

[Flighted Iron]

HP.

 I worked for the OCBP many moons ago. Never once on any pull did i stop to think, now would be a good time to have a buoy to stretch out to the victim.


Flighted