Del Mar Derby controversy: another look

By Ed Zieralski, UNION-TRIBUNE

Originally published September 5, 2010 at 9:11 p.m., updated September 5, 2010 at 9:24 p.m.

DEL MAR — Jockey Patrick Valenzuela wasn’t even involved in the nearly catastrophic incident on the backstretch, but he was as upset as anyone near the winner’s circle after the Del Mar Fiasco, make that Derby, finished on Sunday.
Valenzuela was aboard the 33-1 long-shot Jairzihno, who finished second to the 1-5 favorite, the super-talented and undefeated Twirling Candy in the Grade II, $300,000 Del Mar Derby at Del Mar.
But Valenzuela saw jockey Joel Rosario lose control of Twirling Candy near the ¾-mile mark of the 1 1/8 miles race. Twirling Candy was leading, but Valenzuela saw jockey Victor Espinoza have to pull up his horse, Summer Movie, a 12-1 long-shot that was racing second to Twirling Candy. Espinoza pulled Summer Movie away from a lugging Twirling Candy and prevented a catastrophe on the backstretch.
“That’s B.S.” Valenzuela said after track announcer Trevor Denman announced there would be no change in the race. “They haven’t even talked to the jockeys and they’ve made the ruling. That horse took Victor’s horse out of the race.”
That was the general consensus of many fans in the stands, too, many of whom booed the ruling by the stewards and booed Twirling Candy as he was paraded into the winner’s circle.
Espinoza said he somehow managed to keep Summer Movie from clipping heels with Twirling Candy, but he said he felt his horse ran strangely after the interference.
“I did everything I could to stay up on him,” Espinoza said.
Al Sherman, who was representing his father, trainer Art Sherman, who conditions Summer Movie, said Twirling Candy clearly cost the horse, owned by George Krikiorian, at least fifth.
The last he checked, they paid $6,000 for fifth.
“And on top of that, the horse is hurt,” he said.
The Del Mar stewards never talked to the jockeys involved until after they ruled that there would be no change in the race’s outcome. Twirling Candy stayed first, Jairzihno remained in second, and Royal F J was third.
Summer Movie finished sixth and last.
Steward C. Scott Chaney said the stewards attempted to talk to the two jockeys, but it was clear to them that Espinoza was in no hurry to talk to them.
“Given the fact that he was not exactly eager to talk to us, we went ahead and made a decision,” Chaney said. “We made the decision before we talked to him. We’re not just going to wait an undue amount of time. Our opinion is that if an inquiry is going on and we’ve asked to talk to both jockeys, they’re going to take time. We didn’t know how long he was going to stand there and talk to the trainer. We’re not going to wait a crazy amount of time if it doesn’t seem that important to them.
“It was pretty obvious what happened in this case and we did talk to both jockeys afterward. And frankly their comments would have had no influence in terms of the decision.”
Chaney said there was no way of knowing how much the interference cost Summer Movie, whether it cost him a chance to make up the 6¾ lengths the horse finished behind the horse in front of him, fifth-place Kid Edward.
“Who is to say,” Chaney said. “That’s very speculative. Can’t disqualify a horse on speculation. To disqualify a horse in any race, let alone a Grade I (actually this was a Grade II), on a guessing game would be highly unusual from a steward’s perspective. Usually when we disqualify a horse we’re fairly certain it cost a horse a specific amount or the amount that they’re beaten.”
Chaney also said the decision to not change the outcome of the race was not based on anything other than racing rules and the stewards’ opinions.
“Had we disqualified the horse, the cynics would have said we were putting up the 30-1 shot in order to help Del Mar’s bottom line and cause a Pick Six carryover,” Chaney said. “As far as I’m concerned those factors had nothing to do with it. Who the owner is, who the jockey is, who the trainer is, what the odds are have no bearing on an inquiry.”
He said had they taken Twirling Candy down, the horse would have been placed below Summer Movie, in other words, last, and that wasn’t going to happen. Not on this day, not in this race.
“Twirling Candy would have been placed last,” he said. “How anybody could say that’s the proper result, that’s beyond me.”
It was Twirling Candy’s first graded stakes effort, and it was a monster one, albeit, controversial. Trainer John Sadler said he felt the stewards made the right call because, as many said, “he was so much the best.”
Rosario felt Twirling Candy saw something and decided to run outside.
“I did my best to get him back,” he said. “I don’t think it (the swerving in the backstretch) caused that much trouble. I didn’t have any trouble with the saddle or the reins. He did it himself. I’ve worked him in the morning, and sometimes he ducks away from things. He’s so talented. He’s such a good colt. Once I got him going back right he relaxed and just went on about it.”
Twirling Candy ran the final furlong in 11.29 seconds.
It was Rosario's seventh stakes victory of the meeting, the most of any rider on the grounds. He also won the Del Mar Derby aboard Rendezvous last year. He now has 14 stakes win at Del Mar.
It was Sadler's fourth stakes win of the meeting, giving him 36 stakes wins at Del Mar and tying him with Neil Drysdale for eighth place on the all-time stakes list.
Sadler picked up two wins on the day. Switch, with Rosario aboard, won the $100,000 Torrey Pines Stakes. With two racing days remaining, Sadler has 21 wins, second to leading trainer Doug O'Neill, who also won two on Sunday and now has 28 wins.