The DQ in the Mother Goose was a good one. Right near the wire Proud Spell powered into the side of the Never retreat not only taking her path, but moving her over. This happened as they were dueling for the place in the shadow of the wire. It clearly effected the placings. (this is very clear on the head-on replay view which is a must see)It was a power foul from a ship-in rider who was all over the track for nine furlongs.
PETA was foolishly blasting Saez for his ride on Eight Belles, they should take a look at his ride in the Mother Goose. PETH (people for the ethical treatment of handicappers) should take an even closer look. Saez and Eight belles find trouble four separate times in this four horse field. First there is the stumble out of the gate. Not his fault but it hurt. Then he rushed up into a switch on the rail on the backstretch. Not a good place to be at Belmont which favors outside stalking trips. Then at the top of the lane they steady while in the same rail switch as the backstretch, being squeezed back as the four horse field turn for home. Then they switch to the outside to find room but there is none, he is in another trap. Then they dive to the inside, find some room and Proud Spell surges forward. However in the shadow of the wire Proud Spell plows into never retreat and earned the DQ down to show. Saez is a young guy and hopefully he will learn from this one.
Chris McCarron runs a jockey school in Kentucky, he should use this Saez ride in his Belmont 101 class. It was a bad ride in many ways and he earned the DQ in the shadow of the wire.
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Agreed that it was a terrible ride by Saez. He had the best horse, and he let the trip beat him.
But I still can't see why he should have been DQ'd. Garcia was all over the track on Never Retreat and shut Proud Spell off at least two, and arguably three, different times -- one of which almost ended up with Saez on the turf course. And the last bump was at least in part Never Retreat's fault, as she clearly came over (as did Proud Spell).
Everyone who watched it where I was assumed it must have been that Saez had hit Never Retreat with his whip as they were passing (including the guy who accosted me in the bathroom to yell about his exacta). It never occurred to anyone that the bumping (which had already been initiated twice by Never Retreat) would be the cause.
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