The TDN and other news outlets received an email from New York Gaming Commission Director of Communications Brad Maione that included six screen shots from the race taken at the point where there was contact and horses were steadied. One of the shots included arrows pointing to four jockeys, Ruben Silvera, Manny Franco, Junior Alvarado and Jose Lezcano. Alvarado was aboard Brick Ambush, who, though disqualified after crossing the wire second and placed last, appeared to be free of the trouble while racing outside and clear of the horses who were bothered. The arrow pointing to what was supposed to be Alvarado's mount was instead The Big Torpedo (Big Brown), who was ridden by Javier Castellano.

When the TDN notified Maione that there was an error concerning the identification of the horses and their riders, he sent a new version of the original statement that fixed the mistake. However, with Alvarado now properly identified, the pictures offered no evidence that he was at fault.

The second version of the statement included the following explanation: “Please note the first screenshot in the previous version incorrectly identified the riders on specific horses. Please disregard those reference screenshots. Corrected versions are attached and included below. The narrative remains unchanged.”

Misidentified image of the Great White Way S. sent to the media | NYSGC

The disqualification set off a controversy that has yet to die down and the consensus in the sport is that, for whatever reason, the stewards simply DQ'd the wrong horse by mistake. Many believe that the horse that caused the bumping and deserved to come down was actually the race winner, Antonio of Venice (Laoban).

The statement made the case that the stewards carefully reviewed the race after the decision was made to disqualify Brick Ambush and that they stood by their decision. The stewards officiating the race were Braulio Baeza, Jr. (N.Y.S. Gaming Commission), Juan Dominguez (The New York Racing Association, Inc.) and Samantha Randazzo (The Jockey Club).

“The three Stewards' attention was focused on the field as it arrived near the quarter-pole, where several horses converged and were in close contact,” the statement read. “As evident in the below/attached screenshots, horse Brick Ambush (#12), ridden by Junior Alvarado, came up on three horses that were crowded together–Antonio of Venice (#1) ridden by Manuel Franco, The Big Torpedo (#7) ridden by Javier Castellano, and Solo's Fury (#11), ridden by Jose Lezcano–and made disruptive contact. The Stewards were concerned that Castellano's contact with the other horses and their riders could have impacted the results of the race.”

According to the statement, the stewards examined six separate camera views of the area of concern and conducted telephone interviews with Franco, Castellano, Lezcano and Alvarado. Castellano told reporters after the race that he attempted to claim foul, but the stewards have said they were unaware that he wanted to file an objection.

“After review of the footage and interviews with the jockeys, the Stewards unanimously concluded that Alvarado's movement of Brick Ambush to the inside at quarter-pole pole caused a chain reaction that impacted the race. Accordingly, the Stewards disqualified Brick Ambush for interference,” the statement continued.

Alvarado was hit with a three-day suspension for careless riding.

“The following morning, all four jockeys were required to participate in a film review of the race and discussed the event with all three Stewards,” the statement continued. “At the conclusion of the review, State Steward Baeza issued a 3-day careless riding suspension to Mr. Alvarado, to be effective January 1 through January 5, 2024. Mr. Alvarado accepted the penalty and declined to appeal.”

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What is needed is to look at the Stewards box. Stewards involved should be interviewed, past decisions reviewed and what we need is industry-wide implementation to improve the process. Possibly a fourth person “in the booth” might help when a foul occurs. Evaluation of current requirements, education, improved training, age requirements, cognitive skills, etc.

Whatever blame rests 100% with the stewards in this case!

–Jerry Bilinski DVM, former New York Racing Chairman

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Repole, who did not have a horse in the race, recently announced the formation of The National Thoroughbred Alliance (NTA), an organization he hopes can bring needed change to a sport he has said is rudderless and in steep decline.

“I'm asking for the immediate resignation of both the Chairman/CEO and President of The Jockey Club and I appeal to the board members of The Jockey Club to terminate the operating leadership,” Repole wrote. “The industry needs help, we are in an extreme crisis. Let's take action!!!!!”

Neither Gagliano nor Janney responded to a request for comment at deadline for this story.

The Jockey Club employs Samantha Randazzo, one of the three stewards working at the NYRA tracks. Other than that, it was unclear why Repole placed the blame for controversy on The Jockey Club. He did, however, make it clear that he is frustrated with the organization and labeled it the “old guard.”

In a roughly run race, there was an incident near the quarter pole in which three horses came together, bumped and were steadied. At the time, Brick Ambush was racing well outside of that trio, kept a straight path and did not make contact with another horse. The consensus since the race is that the stewards mistakenly took down the wrong horse.

Race winner Antonio of Venice (Laoban) may have started the pile-up when he came off the rail under Manny Franco after being blocked. It's also possible that the stewards mistook Brick Ambush for Solo's Furry (Solomini), who may have come over a path or two. Brick Ambush was racing outside of Solo's Fury, who was eased after the incident, and the jockeys of both horses wore green silks.

Brick Ambush's owners Dean and Patti Reeves attempted to appeal the decision, but were informed by the New York Gaming Commission that disqualifications are final once the race is made official and cannot be reversed.

The disqualification cost the owners second-place money of $100,000.

Not only did the stewards disqualify Brick Ambush, they handed his jockey, Junior Alvarado, a three-day suspension for careless riding.

“Dean and Patti Reeves are great owners and wonderful people,” Repole wrote. “This sport is very fortunate to have them. The events at Aqueduct last Saturday were brutally unfair to them. Their horse should have been placed first, instead he was disqualified. The bettors, the fans, the trainers, jockeys and owners were blatantly hurt in this situation. With no governing body in place or people policing the sport, they can't even appeal an atrocious ruling.

“The more I dig deeper into this situation, the more I place the blame on the operating leaders, Chairman/CEO and President of The Jockey Club,” Repole wrote. “I have an incredible respect for the great leaders on the board of The Jockey Club. They have great passion for this sport. Let's unite and work together and rebuild The Jockey Club into a trusting organization that can represent and govern this wonderful sport while working with all people associated in the industry to make racing better. We all need to have an immense sense of urgency and we must move quickly.”

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Two owners reached out to the Gaming Commission to file an appeal of the stewards' rulings on the race. The first came from Dean Reeves, whose Brick Ambush (Laoban) was disqualified from second and placed last. The disqualification cost the owner $100,000 in purse money. Thomas Albrecht, the managing partner of the group that owns The Big Torpedo (Big Brown) also sought an appeal, asking that the race winner Antonio of Venice (Laoban) be disqualified for interference. The Big Torpedo crossed the wire fourth, but was placed third because of the disqualification of Brick Ambush. That raised the possibility that if Antonio of Venice was not disqualified and Brick Ambush was restored as the official second-place finisher then Big Torpedo would be dropped back to fourth, which would have cost his owners $30,000.

On Tuesday, the Gaming Commission reached out to both owners and essentially ended any hopes they may have had that the order of finish of the race would be changed after their appeals were heard and the stewards were forced to explain a decision for which there doesn't appear to be an explanation. The reason why? According to the Gaming Commission, the decisions of the stewards are final and not subject to appeal.

Here was the Gaming Commission's response to the two owners:

“On December 17, 2023, the New York State Gaming Commission received correspondence from the connections of two horses that participated in the 9th race at Aqueduct Race Course on December 16, 2023. Specifically, the connections and/or their representatives sought to appeal the stewards' disqualification of the horse Brick Ambush and the stewards' declination to find interference by the horse Antonio of Venice. The correspondence collectively states disagreement with the decision of the stewards.”

“The Commission responded to the connections today (attached), advising them that the decisions to disqualify Brick Ambush and to not find interference by Antonio of Venice were judgment calls “based on questions of fact, which the stewards are empowered to make pursuant to Commission Rule 4039.20 (9 NYCRR §4039.20), and the decision(s) (are) therefore not appealable to the Commission, pursuant to Rule 4039.5. New York Courts have long held that stewards' placement decisions are questions of fact that cannot be appealed. See, e.g., In the Matter of the Seventh Race of June 12, 1996 at Belmont Park [May I Inquire] (NYSRWB 1996), confirmed, Matter of Moshera v. Bilinski, 244 A.D.2d 555 (2d Dep't 1995); see also Discenza v. N.Y. Racing Ass'n, 134 Misc. 2d 3, 7-8 (N.Y. Civ. Ct. 1986); Shapiro v. Queens County Jockey Club, 184 Misc. 295, 300 (N.Y. Mun. Ct. 1945). For these reasons, the stewards' decision is final and the New York State Gaming Commission cannot consider your appeal.”

Attorney Drew Mollica, who represents Reeves, ripped into the Gaming Commission over its decision.

“I'm going to do the research of the law but for this commission to stand by that technicality speaks volumes about the level of insensitivity and incompetence that permeates this industry,” he said. “We could still go to court. I'm not so sure the rules actually say that but let me do some research. To stand behind this kind of technicality bypasses the bigger issue. They are saying we can do what we want when we want, and that is farcical and they should be embarrassed.”

The controversy resulted from a pile-up at the quarter-pole, where three horses were involved in a bumping incident that caused each one to steady to varying degrees. Antonio of Venice, who was on the rail, came out and appeared to start a chain reaction that caused The Big Torpedo and Solo's Fury (Solomini) to take up. Solo's Fury was essentially eased after the incident and finished last.

While this was going on, Brick Ambush sat outside the other three horses, never bumped anyone, stayed in the same path and appeared to have nothing to do with the incident. The inquiry was posted shortly after the horses crossed the wire and, briefly, the No. 1, who was Antonio of Venice, was blinking on the toteboard. But after a lengthy review of the race, the stewards did not take down Antonio of Venice, ruling instead that it was Brick Ambush who caused the problems and placing him last. In addition, they gave Brick Ambush's rider Junior Alvarado a three-day suspension for careless riding.

“I felt like I was robbed, like I was mugged,” Reeves said.

On the Stewards' Decisions page on the NYRA website, here is how the stewards described the race and their reasoning for taking down Brick Ambush:  Steward's inquiry. At the 1/4 pole #12 Brick Ambush (Junior Alvarado) came in, causing a chain reaction. The #11 Solo's Fury (Jose Lezcano) pushes down into the #7 The Big Torpedo (Javier Castellano). After reviewing the video and speaking with the riders, the stewards disqualified the #12 Brick Ambush for interference and place him behind the #11 Solo's Fury.”

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In a roughly run race, there was an incident at the quarter-pole where Big Torpedo (Big Brown) and Solo's Fury (Solomini) both checked sharply. Big Torpedo finished fourth and Solo's Fury was last of 12. A strong case can be made that Antonio of Venice (Laoban), the race winner with Manny Franco aboard, came off the rail and started a chain reaction that caused the other two horses to steady. When the incident took place, Brick Ambush sat five wide and outside of the horses who were bothered. He never came in contact with another horse, changed paths or did anything else that would seem to warrant a disqualification.

Another possibility is that the stewards mistook Brick Ambush for the 11 horse, Solo's Fury, who does appear to come over and bother horses at the quarter pole, while Brick Ambush appears to be clear of the trouble at that point. Both jockeys were wearing white and green silks with green caps and were next to one another.

Second-place money in the Great White Way is $100,000. Brick Ambush was placed last.

“We are going to appeal it because I'm not really sure what happened,” Reeves said. “We were never involved in the conversation. It's been amazing, the number of people who have reached out or are making comments, people saying that's the worst thing they've ever seen in 40 years of watching races. I feel like I got robbed, like I got mugged. We have to appeal this. I want to see how they came to their conclusion that we had anything to do with it. I watched the slow motion and had it stop and start. I have some questions for them.”

Reeves said he did not even realize that his horse had been taken down until getting a call from his trainer, Danny Gargan. He then called the stewards, asking for an explanation

“I called to talk to the stewards,” he said. “I wanted to ask them why they took my horse down. I called three times. They hung up on me the first two times. The third time they said call us tomorrow morning. Needless to say, I was pretty upset.”

The Daily Racing Form's David Grening asked New York Gaming Commission steward Braulio Baeza Jr. to comment on the reason for the disqualification and was told “the outside horse [Brick Ambush] caused the pressure.” Grening wrote that the stewards declined to comment further.

According to reporting in the Daily Racing Form, a second owner has filed an appeal objecting to the stewards' decisions. Thomas Albrecht, the managing partner of the group that owns Big Torpedo, has filed an appeal of the stewards decision not to disqualify Antonio of Venice from first place.

A stewards' inquiry was posted shortly after the horses crossed the wire. Javier Castellano, who rode Big Torpedo told reporters that he claimed foul, but the stewards said that foul claim was never relayed to them. It took the stewards about 10 minutes to review the inquiry, but even after they reached their decision there was more cause for confusion. For about a minute after the inquiry sign was removed, the order of finish still read 1-12-3-7, which was the order the horses crossed the finish line. The numbers were then changed to 1-3-7-6 and the race was declared official.

The NYRA website features a “Stewards' Decision” page in which the stewards provide an explanation of what happened and the reason for their decision following an inquiry or an objection. For the Great White Way, here is what they wrote: “Steward's inquiry. At the 1/4 pole #12 Brick Ambush (Junior Alvarado) came in, causing a chain reaction. The #11 Solo's Fury (Jose Lezcano) pushes down into the #7 The Big Torpedo (Javier Castellano). After reviewing the video and speaking with the riders, the stewards disqualified the #12 Brick Ambush for interference and place him behind the #11 Solo's Fury. Official order of finish: 1-3-7-6.”

On Sunday evening, Junior Alvarado, the rider of Brick Ambush, was given a three-day suspension by the stewards.

The disqualification caused a firestorm on X, with the vast majority questioning the stewards call, which seemed so obviously wrong.

Among those who took to X was Mike Repole, who wrote, “yesterday's ninth race was one of the worst stewards' calls I have ever seen. This is a public video, evidence of the (New York) stewards' incompetence. This hurts gamblers, fans, and the integrity of the sport. The owners, trainers, jockeys, track employees, etc., have to deal with the incompetence of the (New York) stewards, that is not seen in public.”

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