Tag: NYRA stewards

Caramel Swirl Wins Gallant Bloom S. After Double Disqualification

There was fast action and drama galore, and like all the best thrillers, it ended with a plot twist. Caramel Swirl (Union Rags) had been keeping good company in her last two starts, but by the end of a wild running of the GII Gallant Bloom S., her losing streak would be over via the double disqualification of Sterling Silver (Cupid) and Headland (Paynter), both of whom would be placed behind her.

Company doesn't come tougher than two Champions, and that is exactly who Caramel Swirl had to contend with last out in the GI Ballerina H.–won by MGISW Echo Zulu (Gun Runner), second was MGISW Goodnight Olive (Ghostzapper), and losing third by a nose to MGISW Matareya (Pioneerof the Nile)–and two back in the GII Bed O'Roses S., where she ran behind Goodnight Olive as well as the gritty MGSW & MGISP Wicked Halo (Gun Runner).

In her customary spot at the very back of the field after the jump, she settled into the trip from the rail and was called on by Junior Alvarado for a rally passing the five-sixteenths marker. Moved out for room in upper stretch as Headland was intent on making the race from the rail, she was closing fast into the final furlong but had all moment stopped when Sterling Silver and Headland closed her gap outside the sixteenth pole. Doing her best to find her feet in the closing strides, she picked up the unofficial third place spot as Sterling Silver crossed the line first with Headland coming in behind her.

After a lengthy objection and stewards' inquiry involving the entire board, the winner and the runner-up were both disqualified for interference in separate events. The official order of finish was then Caramel Swirl, Sterling Silver, and Headland to third.

“She was there for me and she was fighting. I thought I had the horse to hold my spot and protect myself right there. She ran great,” said Alvarado afterwards.

Of what happened during the running, he added: “I had a horse outside of me coming from the seven path [Sterling Silver] and I didn't mind because I knew they would try to squeeze me a little there. It's a big race and you have to defend your race. But they both [Sterling Silver and Headland] got right in front of me. I clipped heels with the horse to the inside [Headland], then when I got out of there, I was [shut off] by the horse outside of me [Sterling Silver]. That takes it to a different level. Now, I'm in a terrible spot where I almost went down. I'm just glad everybody got back safe, and I think it was the right decision.”

When asked about a potential start in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, Michael Banahan, director of bloodstock for Godolphin, reported that while Caramel Swirl had run against some of the expected competitors in the field before, the plan was for Matareya to go to the race as well. “We'll get [Caramel Swirl] back and see how she is and go from there. Two is better than one, so we'll see what we can do.”

Pedigree Note

Out of a half-sister to MGISW Frosted (Tapit) and GSW Indulgent (Bernardini), Caramel Swirl is another successful homebred for the venerable Godolphin operation. Hailing from a female line filled with track and breeding successes such as champion 2-year-old colt, MGISW Midshipman; GSW Elsa (Animal Kingdom); MGISP Gouverneur Morris (Constitution) and a fleet of Group winners in Australia, the victress is the most successful runner for dam Caramel Snap. The mare has produced a 2-year-old Decatur Street (Street Sense) and a yearling full-brother to Caramel Swirl who had been exported to Japan last year. She went to Not This Time for 2024.

Sunday, Belmont The Big A
GALLANT BLOOM S.-GII, $250,000, Belmont The Big A, 10-1, 3yo/up, f/m, 6 1/2f, 1:16.18, ft.
1–CARAMEL SWIRL, 124, m, 5, by Union Rags
           1st Dam: Caramel Snap, by Smart Strike
           2nd Dam: Fast Cookie, by Deputy Minister
           3rd Dam: Fleet Lady, by Avenue of Flags
O/B-Godolphin (KY); T-William I. Mott; J-Junior Alvarado. $137,500. Lifetime Record: GISP, 16-6-4-3, $779,950. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Sterling Silver, 122, f, 4, Cupid–Sheet Humor, by Distorted Humor. ($13,000 Ylg '20 FTKSEL). O-Mark T. Anderson; B-Mallory & Karen Mort (NY); T-Thomas Albertrani. $50,000.
3–Headland, 122, m, 7, Paynter–Miss Sheltowee, by Najran.1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($17,000 Wlg '16 KEENOV; $25,000 Ylg '17 OBSWIN; $50,000 2yo '18 OBSAPR). O-Thomas and Daryn A. Brockley; B-Sheltowee Farm & WinStar Farm, LLC (KY); T-George Weaver. $30,000.
Margins: 1, 4, HF. Odds: 0.95, 6.30, 18.60.
Also Ran: Beguine, Undervalued Asset, Remain Anonymous.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

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View From The Eighth Pole: Irad Ortiz Jr.’s Reckless Ride A Litmus Test For Stewards

Ten years from now, when Irad Ortiz Jr. is inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., his ride aboard Gran Casique in Friday's eighth race at Aqueduct will not make the highlight reel.

As the Equibase chartcaller put it, “Gran Casique angled in with reckless abandon at the five-eighths and bumped Ragtime Blues hard which caused that foe to lose his rider…”

The victim of Ortiz's reckless act, the aforementioned Ragtime Blues, was ridden by Omar Hernandez Moreno, a seven-pound apprentice jockey who began his career racing in New York in May against the country's deepest jockey colony and has recorded five wins from 106 career starts.

But it was Ortiz – despite his 3,047 wins from 15,575 career starts and three Eclipse Awards as outstanding jockey – who looked like a rookie rider in the 6 ½-furlong sprint. Ortiz put Hernandez Moreno and the other riders in danger with a completely unnecessary move to the rail in the opening furlongs of the race. Fortunately, Hernandez Moreno was not injured and outriders caught the riderless Ragtime Blues.

Stewards at New York Racing Association tracks appear to be either uninterested or incapable of controlling the actions of that circuit's jockey colony. There have been countless examples of “herding” that exceed strategic race riding and have gone unpunished. This is about New York, but the same can be said of stewards at other tracks around the country. Too much careless or reckless riding is being permitted.

The actions by Ortiz will be a litmus test for the stewards.

In 1942, future Hall of Famer Eddie Arcaro was aboard a horse named Occupation in the Cowdin Stakes at Aqueduct and engaged in a confrontation with fellow rider Vincent Nodarse aboard Breezing Home. Arcaro felt Nodarse had cut him off at the start and spent the rest of the race trying to retaliate. After a series of bumps, Arcaro knocked  Nodarse off his horse, a move that landed him in a meeting with the stewards.

When confronted by them about what he had been trying to do, an unfiltered Arcaro responded, “I was trying to kill the S.O.B.” He was given an indefinite suspension.

The time away from the racetrack was a struggle for Arcaro, who worked as an exercise rider in Aiken, S.C., galloping horses for Mrs. Payne Whitney's Greentree Stable to make ends meet for his growing family. After Arcaro was away from the track for nearly a year, Whitney wrote a letter to William Woodward Sr., chairman of The Jockey Club that ran the New York tracks at the time. Whitney pleaded with Woodward to let Arcaro ride again.

“He let me and it changed my whole life,” Arcaro would later tell Sports Illustrated's William Leggett. “It made me obey the rules, and it made me realize what being nice to people means.”

I'm not suggesting Ortiz made a purposeful move to cut off Ragtime Blues and eject Hernandez Moreno from the saddle. I am saying that it's time for the stewards to try and curtail such reckless riding in the future by giving Ortiz a suspension that is immediate and lengthy enough to give him time to think about how his actions can endanger his fellow riders and the horses they are aboard.

Because of designated race rules and the appeals process, jockey suspensions, in New York and elsewhere, have become a joke. There was nothing funny about this future Hall of Famer's ride at Aqueduct, one that could have had serious consequences. New York stewards must act accordingly.

That's my view from the eighth pole.

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