Ryan Moore, Irad Ortiz, Jr., Penalized For Winning Breeders’ Cup Rides

Two of the planet's top jockeys, Ryan Moore and Irad Ortiz, Jr., were penalized by the Santa Anita Park stewards for riding infractions aboard winning mounts on the Nov. 4 Breeders' Cup program.

Moore was fined $20,800 and suspended one day (Nov. 12) for being one whip strike over the limit of six when guiding 5-2 favorite Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) to victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf. Under Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) rules, the fine equates to 10% of Moore's personal purse winnings from that stakes.

Cutting the corner for home with a deft rail run after looking hopelessly bottled up at the fence, Moore's winning ride on Auguste Rodin has been widely praised as one of the most brilliantly executed moves on the entirety of Breeders' Cup weekend.

Moore was also assigned three violation points that will be expunged from his record on May 5, 2024, or six months from the date of final HISA adjudication.

Ortiz was suspended three days (Nov. 12, 17, 18) “for failure to maintain a straight course in the stretch and causing interference” aboard 11-10 favorite Goodnight Olive (Ghostzapper), who successfully defended her title by winning the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint.

There was no stewards' inquiry posted after Goodnight Olive's win. The Equibase chart noted that Goodnight Olive “drifted in, taking the path of Society [Gun Runner] near the three-sixteenths pole” before she “quickly opened clear and held safely.”

It was unclear at deadline for this story if Moore planned an appeal. After his Breeders' Cup engagements, he flew to Australia, where he was booked to ride in the G1 Melbourne Cup Nov. 7.

Moore is currently rated tops in points for the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities' World's Best Jockey rankings.

Ortiz's agent, Steve Rushing, told TDN that Ortiz is still weighing his options regarding an appeal.

“We're not sure yet. We spoke with a lawyer [Sunday]. We're going to make a decision either [later Monday or Tuesday]. It's a possibility, but we haven't decided yet,” Rushing said.

Ortiz, currently North America's leading jockey in both purse winnings and victories for 2023, is in the midst of serving a three-day “careless riding” suspension (Nov. 5, 9, 10) imposed by the Aqueduct Racetrack stewards for an Oct. 22 bumping incident that resulted in a victory for Ortiz's mount.

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NYSGC Doubles Rice’s ‘Improper Practices’ Fine to $100K

The New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) on Tuesday fined trainer Linda Rice $100,000 in a re-adjudication of her “improper practices” case that has persisted at the commission level and in the New York courts for more than two years.

In 2021, the NYSGC fined Rice $50,000 and revoked her license for three years after investigating claims that Rice received favorable treatment from the New York Racing Association (NYRA) and that the racing office was releasing to her the names and past performances of horses that had already been entered in races, giving her an unfair advantage.

The NYSGC initially had alleged that Rice had paid racing officials in exchange for the information, but that bribery charge–which Rice had denied–was later dismissed by the commission.

On June 8, 2023, the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division ruled that the three-year banishment imposed by the NYSGC was “entirely unwarranted.”

But that same court also upheld the commission's determination that the “improper practices” rule had been violated, and ordered the matter back to the NYSGC to reassess the penalty “with the constraint that any reassessed penalty cannot contain a license revocation.”

At the Oct. 3 monthly meeting, NYSGC chair Brian O'Dwyer read into the record a brief explanation of Rice's revamped penalty.

As per the NYSGC's custom, the commissioners did not discuss or debate the matter in an open-public session prior to voting upon it. Their voting happened prior to the start of the meeting and O'Dwyer only reported a summary of the decision.

“The appellate division agreed with the Commission's findings that trainer Rice had blatantly broke the rules of racing by conspiring with others to choose the optimal races for her horses. The appellate division determined, however, that any revocation was unwarranted,” O'Dwyer said.

“We respectfully disagree with that decision, but are constrained by law to follow it. The original fine of $50,000 was predicated on a three-year revocation. Since that is now not extant, we have decided, on the basis of the record, [to] increase the fine to $100,000. And we therefore impose a penalty on trainer Rice of $100,000. The vote was unanimous in that regard,” O'Dwyer said.

Rice did not respond to messages requesting comment prior to deadline for this story, but her attorney, Andrew Turro, indicated to TDN in an email that Rice is ready to move on.

“I'm very, very happy that this is over for Linda and that she can now focus on what she loves and does best,” Turro wrote.

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Mountaineer Steward Defends $100 Fine for Jockey Who Whipped Horse in Face

The chief state steward at Mountaineer Park, Jim O'Brien, on Friday defended his board's seemingly light $100 penalization of jockey Jose A. Leon after other licensees who were on horseback during training hours at the West Virginia track Sept. 10 testified that the 24-year-old rider dismounted from an unruly horse and struck it across the face with his whip.

“He was wrong, but I guess he let his anger get the best of him, and he hit the horse in the face,” O'Brien told TDN.

O'Brien added that he and the other two Mountaineer stewards–Maureen Andrews and Phil Heidenreich–won't be revisiting the penalty, because they believe the punishment fits the violation.

“The horse was acting up after he got off, which is no excuse, but that's what happened,” O'Brien said.

Leon, in a separate interview Sept. 22, denied he hit the horse in the face after dismounting from it. But he did admit that he was “frustrated,” and that he struck the horse “in the mouth” earlier in a workout while still on horseback in an effort to keep it from careening through the outside fence after it bolted.

Specific information about the horse's identity and condition were not available at deadline for this story.

TDN first reported Leon's fine on Sept. 21. At the time of publication, details about the incident were scant. The stewards' ruling, dated Sept. 18, didn't even mention that a whip was involved.

That initial news story caught the attention of TDN readers, and it quickly cycled to the top of the most-read articles list. Within 24 hours of publication, it drew 19 reader comments, which skewed 18-1 against Leon's actions, with a number of the commenters suggesting that the penalty should have been stiffer.

One reader who phoned TDN directly was Justin Jensen, a former jockey who now owns, trains, and exercises horses at Mountaineer. Jensen said he had witnessed Leon's actions, and was one of the witnesses who reported what happened to the Mountaineer stewards.

Jensen said his motivation for wanting his side of the story told was because “A hundred-dollar fine isn't acceptable. The stewards are not doing what they should be doing by throwing the book at him a little bit more.”

Leon, Jensen, and O'Brien essentially told TDN the same version of what occurred during the botched workout. It's what happened after the horse got pulled up that Leon disputed.

“I'm at the three-eighths pole galloping in a set, and Jose Leon worked up the rail, worked past us, and his horse bolted to the outside,” Jensen said. “Now to his credit, he stayed on, and I thought for a second that horse was going through the outside rail. And he corrected the horse by hitting it in the face.”

O'Brien corroborated that explanation: “Other witnesses said they don't even know how he stayed on the horse, and the horse was acting up bad,” the steward said.

“I showed him the whip,” said Leon, who has been a licensed jockey for five years. “I did hit him on the bit; just tried to correct him. The stewards told me that was okay, because they know if I'm in a dangerous [situation], I really have to do something to correct the horse. I hit the horse on the mouth. It wasn't on the face.”

Jensen said that at that point, he couldn't really blame Leon for his actions.

“You're in a dangerous spot. He reached out and smacked the horse in the face. Not the end of the world, okay?” Jensen said.

But what happened afterward troubled Jensen.

“So now he gets the horse back down on the rail,” Jensen continued. “They finish the workout, and I'm galloping right behind him. We pull up. I'm maybe 30, 40 yards away from him. Now the problem is done. All he had to do was turn that horse around and jog it home. And because he's got a bad attitude, and he always has a temper, he jumped off that horse, and as he jumped off that horse, he grabbed the right rein with his left hand, and he reached back with his right hand, and he whipped that horse in the face. I don't know if he hit him in the eye, but he whipped him hard across the face.”

Jensen continued: “Now I yelled at him, and I said, 'Jose, that's enough.' I said, 'Calm down, get that horse back to the barn safely, and just take a breath.' We rode away from him. He continued to get a little bit more mad at the horse, but he did not whip him in the face again. But he did whip him in the face the first time, 100 percent.”

Jensen said by that time, outrider Theresa Akers had come over to assist. She would also testify at Leon's hearing.

“If we had some patrons from the casino standing up on the turn, watching horses train in the morning, which they do quite often, and they witness a jockey whip a horse in the face like that, that makes our business look worse,” Jensen said. “And right now, horse racing is under the microscope.”

Asked directly by TDN if he dismounted from the horse and struck him, Leon said no.

“I came up to the seven-eighths pole [and] just put my stick up, and I started, like, holding the bridle, working with him,” Leon said. “The outrider, she was saying I hit the horse in the face, that the horse had an [injured] eye, and I explained to the stewards the horse did not have any damage, that the horse was fine, and everything was okay. The horse is the type of horse that is a crazy horse. He's super hyper.”

“I was frustrated, but I did not do things on purpose,” Leon said. “I know it's something serious. I will pay the fine, because I know if I lose [an appeal], I don't want to get in trouble for something that I know that I did, but it wasn't on purpose to hurt the horse. I did it to take care of myself. I know with all the [new] rules that are going on, [an incident like this] can affect my career.”

Jensen, in telling his version of events, also referenced the slew of new national anti-whip rules that are in effect. He said he can't square Leon getting fined only $100 for what happened when other jockeys who violate crop rules for being a few strikes over the in-race limit get hit with multi-day suspensions or fines that are much higher than that.

Jensen also gave an example of something that happened to him last year at Mountaineer: He got into a disagreement with the track superintendent and swore at him. He said he was asked to explain his actions before the same board of stewards and admitted that what he said was not appropriate.

“Now those were words,” Jensen said. “How did I get a $400 fine for saying [expletive], but this guy gets a $100 fine for whipping a horse in the face?”

Jensen said he is well aware that speaking out against alleged horse abuse can have repercussions for those within the industry who choose to report it, especially at a small track like Mountaineer. He said there were others who witnessed Leon's actions on that morning but chose not to come forward, and that he understands their reasons for not doing so.

“But I'm okay with you putting my name on this,” Jensen said. “I'm probably going to be dragged through the mud with the stewards. I foresee them dragging me in and giving me a hard time over this. But you know what? There's a difference between right and wrong, and I'm trying to stand up for the right right now.”

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Mountaineer Jockey Fined $100 for Striking Horse in Face

Jockey Jose A. Leon has been fined $100 for hitting a horse in the face during training hours at Mountaineer Park.

According to a Mountaineer stewards' ruling, “Mr. Leon was caught striking a horse across the face on Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023, during morning exercising.”

The ruling didn't specify whether Leon struck the horse with his whip or his hand.

Joe Moore, the executive director of the West Virginia Racing Commission, wrote in an email that he did not have any details about the incident beyond what the Mountaineer stewards stated in the ruling.

Leon, 24, represented himself at a Sept. 18 stewards' hearing, according to the ruling. Moore told TDN Leon has not appealed, but is still within his 20-day window to do so.

Leon, who has been a licensed jockey since 2018, has compiled a 38-for-304 record so far this year, riding in West Virginia, Ohio, Arizona, and in the mid-Atlantic region.

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