Originally Posted by
redietz
The tipoff for me was when the interviewer rode up on his horse and said something to Max's jockey and got no response, then said, "I was kidding. You should be enjoying the moment," or something like that. The Max jockey clearly knew he was in deep shit. I know nothing, but I knew then that there was a problem. And the first words out of the trainer and jockey's mouths had to do with "He drifted out a little because of the crowd" or "He's a baby and he drifted" or stuff like that. They were making excuses instead of celebrating, so I thought there was an issue.
Another angle on this, which my partner mentioned, is that American racing is trying to generate international interest in Japan and China, and the riding in Japan and China is ultra-clean. So you don't want the international bettors tuning in and seeing American jockeys weaving and banging. It turns off all of those international bettors.
That was a good horse that was taken down, but the jockey should have maintained his composure during the race. He rode like it was a 10K claimer at Penn National.