Derby Trail Forums - Disgusted..

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3kings

I believe it matters. Young inexperienced horses will bobble and veer a little more often due to the fact they are doing something they have never done or have not done often. They probably have not stretched out, exerted maximum effort and run in front of a cheering crowd very often. That being said if they commit an egregious foul or severely interfere they should me taken down. IMO all factors must be taken into consideration including the conditions. In other sports the referee or umpire will call a game differently if they are calling a game for 8 year old kids vs high school aged children.

They are less strict on the contact out of the gate with youngins. Look, you either want the best horse on the day to get rewarded, or you don't. That's the whole point of having a d.q., or not having d.q.(trying to give credit to the best horse on the day.) If a horse fouls, then for them to stay up, 2 facts need to be obvious:

1) The horse didn't cost a horse a better placing,

and

2) It needs to be obvious that they were better than the horse they fouled.

We have a foul, and the winners lead is shrinking (as they come to the finish line.) If the win was by a margin of say 3 non-diminishing lengths , then I would probably agree with leaving her up. In that bad d.q. of Proud Spell, her margin over the horse (she may have fouled) was expanding. In this non d.q., the margin of victory (over the fouled horse) was quickly diminishing. They got both calls wrong. They rewarded the wrong horse in both cases.