Stewards | Horse Racing Free Tips

Del Mar Stewards Suspend Ruben Fuentes 11 Days For Pair Of Careless Riding Incidents

Jockey Ruben Fuentes has been suspended for a total of 11 race days due to a pair of careless riding infractions, according to a ruling published by Del Mar Thoroughbred Club stewards.

First, Fuentes was given four days for his ride aboard winner Quiet Secretary in Friday's ninth race. Stewards held an inquiry after Fuentes allowed his mount to drift out in the stretch, but did not change the order of finish.

Fuentes was cited again for his ride on Le Tub in Saturday's fifth race, in which the horse caused interference. Stewards added seven days to the penalty, since it was Fuentes' third careless riding infraction in the past 60 days.

The suspension dates will last from Sept. 5 to Oct. 4, though Fuentes will be allowed to ride in designated races.

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Injured Jockey Makes Impassioned Plea For Stricter Careless Riding Penalties

Danny Brereton, 55-year-old former jockey, made an impassioned plea for racing authorities across the world to be tougher on careless riding penalties when speaking to racing.com this week. Brereton suffered a career-ending injury during a race 10 years ago in Australia, and still cannot walk unassisted. “A proper penalty would stop careless riding in its tracks because nobody would risk losing two or three months of their year through suspension,” Brereton told racing.com. “We're not in the days of Ben Hur anymore.”

Current penalties for careless riding in Australia range from a month to six weeks, and the penalties are generally much shorter in the U.S. Brereton believes that stewards are being hamstrung by jockeys' associations. “Stewards can and they would be able to stop careless riding,” Brereton continued. “They can and would be able to stop jockeys being put in wheelchairs but their hands are tied and their hands are tied by the jockeys' association, because they represent riders who have done the wrong thing and discourage stewards from issuing sterner penalties. “They have got the stewards to police it and then they're going in and over the heads of the stewards saying 'don't punish our members' but they've got another rider lying on the track. It's absolutely ridiculous, why are they doing that?” Read more at racing.com.

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‘An Affront To The Integrity Of Racing’: Gulfstream Held Racing Without Several Vital Camera Angles

“Will this action foster increased participation and confidence from horseplayers and horse owners?”

This should be the question considered by all decision-makers in horse racing.

Strong storms cascaded through the area around Gulfstream Park on Saturday morning. Besides races on grass being shifted to the dirt and that course being downgraded to sloppy, there was another significant change on the day.

The storm knocked-out several camera positions, including head-on views and a remote camera positioned to capture starts deep in the one-mile backstretch chute.

As a result, neither the stewards nor the betting public have any record of the start and first furlong from four races at one mile on the dirt track (click each race link to view the video as it appeared on Saturday Race 1, Race 2, Race 5, Race 10).

The Thoroughbred Idea Foundation (TIF) contacted the Gulfstream Park stewards on Sunday morning regarding this matter. They confirmed that while there was an individual observing the start of the four, one-mile races, the stewards had no video to review in the event of any incident near or soon after the start and do not believe any video was otherwise recorded for their review or public dissemination after the fact.

More than $3.5 million was handled in intra and inter-race bets involving these four races.

“If the basic measures to ensure the integrity of the race are not available to the public or the stewards, the race should not be run. The races should have been cancelled,” said Patrick Cummings, TIF's Executive Director. “Simply put, the public has not gotten a fair run for their money.”

“While a cancellation would be an unfortunate outcome for the dedicated horsepeople who had their horses ready to go on Saturday, we believe it is in the best interests of all racing stakeholders to ensure that the proper integrity infrastructure is in place for all wagering on a horse race.”

The TIF has advocated for an increase in stewards' reporting on matters related to each race, meeting the standard that has been embraced by nearly all foreign jurisdictions.

“This occurrence is akin to an assault on the wagering public perpetrated by an operator of a regulated wagering event. The actual impact, however, is completely unknown, because there is no record of what occurred. Our industry has to be better than this.”

Cummings filed a complaint after Saturday's second race with the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering of Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

“How long would a casino be allowed to get away with just telling customers the results of a dealer's cards in blackjack as opposed to showing them? Basically, that is what happened here.

“Customers of future races will also be impacted, though to what degree is impossible to determine given the actions of the day, as horses from the four, one-mile races on Saturday go forward.”

Chart comments for the four races lacked any remarks regarding the start or opening furlong, in contrast to other races on the card where those could be observed.

No times are available for the one-mile races, either, and hand-timing cannot be conducted due to the lack of video.

Would the actions of Gulfstream Park on Saturday, July 18, 2020 have fostered increased participation and confidence from horseplayers and horse owners?

No.

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Indiana Stewards Suspend Jockey Gabriel Saez 30 Days For ‘Extreme Carelessness On The Racetrack’

Stewards at Indiana Grand in Shelbyville, Ind. handed down a 30-day suspension to jockey Gabriel Saez due to an incident he was involved in during the fourth race on June 17, reports the Daily Racing Form.

Aboard Justtequilatalkin in the 2-year-old maiden, Saez was out in front when his mount shifted toward the rail and caused three other horses and riders to fall. Jockey Joseph Ramos escaped unharmed, but Augustin Gomez broke his tibia and Albin Jiminez broke his eye socket and has five fractures in his back.

Two of the horses walked off the track, while a third was vanned off.

The stewards watched video replays of the race with Saez on June 18, and their ruling, handed down that same day, cites Saez for “extreme carelessness on the racetrack.” The suspension was to begin on June 22, and Saez is not named aboard any mounts at Indiana Grand this week, but the jockey is appealing to the Indiana Racing Commission and has requested a stay of his suspension.

Saez is named on horses at Churchill Downs beginning Thursday, June 25, and is booked to ride multiple graded stakes winner By My Standards in Saturday's Grade 2, $500,000 Stephen Foster Stakes beneath the Twin Spires.