After reviewing films of Aqueduct's first race on March 6 with jockey Jose Lezcano on Friday, the board of stewards at the Ozone Park, N.Y., racetrack will take no action against the rider.
Lezcano rode the 8-year-old Foxtail to a second-place finish that day as the 2-1 second choice for owner-trainer Linda Rice in a $12,500 claiming race after repeatedly looking back and to his inside at the top of the stretch.
According to the Equibase chart footnotes of the race, Foxtail “stalked outside the leading duo under stout restraint, engaged those leaders while still in hand in the four path around the turn, had the rider take a peek behind him at the five-sixteenths, took the advantage while the rider took five more looks to his inside into upper stretch, was asked while surprised by the presence of the winner to her outside at the three-sixteenths then lost the advantage, kept on under a drive while fighting inside that foe in the final furlong and just missed while well clear for the place.”
Foxtail was beaten a neck by Indian Bella, ridden to victory by Trevor McCarthy for trainer Mertkan Kantarmaci.
Rice claimed Foxtail in her previous start on Jan. 13 from Kantarmaci and Indian Bella's owners, Krakow Racing LLC and America's Pastime Stables for $20,000.
Patrick McKenna, vice president of communications for the New York Racing Association, issued the following statement on Friday: “Following a formal film review of Sunday's opening race at Aqueduct racetrack, the board of stewards will take no action against jockey Jose Lezcano for his ride aboard Foxtail. The matter remains under ongoing review.”
The day before his effort aboard Foxtail – which was widely criticized on social media – Lezcano guided Morello to victory in the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes for trainer Steve Asmussen. A 36-year-old native of Panama, Lezcano was the leading rider at the 2019 Belmont Park spring/summer meet and has won 2,982 races since coming to the U.S. in 2004.
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