Beverly D. Disqualification Upheld

In an eight-page ruling handed down Friday by the Illinois Racing Board, the decision to disqualify Secret Gesture (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) from first to third in the GI Beverly D. S. Aug. 15 for coming across and interfering with Stephanie’s Kitten (Kitten’s Joy) was upheld, as was a $1,500 fine handed down to Secret Gesture’s jockey Jamie Spencer. The action allows Watsdachances (Ire) (Diamond Green {Fr}), who outfinished Stephanie’s Kitten for second and was the adjudged winner, to keep the race.

In his decision, Marc Laino, the former executive director of the Illinois Racing Board, laid out the testimony provided in a hearing held Sept. 16 and 17 in downtown Chicago during which the IRB called as witnesses the stewards on hand for the Beverly D., as well as jockeys Irad Ortiz Jr. (Stephanie’s Kitten) and Joe Bravo (Watsdachances) and jockey Angel Cordero. Darrel McHargue appeared on behalf of the connections of Watsdachances, while Spencer and expert witnesses Bernie Hettel and Steve Cauthen testified on behalf of the petitioners in the case, Qatar Racing and Newsells Park Stud, who were represented by Karen Murphy. Cordero testified despite the opposition of the petitioners, while Cauthen’s testimony was allowed over the objection of the IRB and Joel Turner, the attorney representing the connections of Watsdachances.

Secret Gesture led into the final stages of the 9 1/2-furlong Beverly D., but came out from the “two to the five path,” according to Laino’s report and came across Stephanie’s Kitten, whose jockey Ortiz was forced to “check and pull up to avoid clipping heals [sic] or colliding with ‘Secret Gesture.’” (video). During his testimony, Arroyo, a former jockey and chief steward and the only of the three stewards to vote in favor of allowing Secret Gesture to keep the race originally, stated that he felt that “Ortiz exaggerated or feigned his checking maneuver knowing he was not going to place first in the race.” Arroyo, who voted in favor of the decision to penalize Spencer for careless riding, did stipulate that he too would have acted in the spirit of safety ahead of winning if put in a precarious situation.

For his part, Spencer admitted that Secret Gesture drifted out to her right in the lane, but that he took corrective action and was “clear of Ortiz at all times, including when he crossed in front of Ortiz.” Though other testimony from Hettel and Cauthen attempted to implicate Ortiz as the guilty party, Laino wrote that their statements were outweighed by those of Ortiz, Bravo and Cordero, among others, whose testimony was deemed “more credible” and was supported by the multiple angle video entered as part of the evidence.

Ultimately, the petitioners’ assertion that Ortiz ‘grandstanding’, or overreaction, cost he and Stephanie’s Kitten a clear second-place finish, was “not supported by the evidence or the testimony.” Laino writes that, “It is clear Ortiz’s action to check his horse and pull up was solely to avoid collision and injury or become unseated.” He goes on to say that Ortiz assumed a riding position immediately after the incident.

The decision to uphold the disqualification came only days after the Qatar Racing team successfully argued that Simple Verse (Ire) (Duke of Marmalade {Ire}) was wrongly stripped of the victory in the G1 St Leger S. at Doncaster.