I have to say — OUT LOUD — that the stewards at Santa Anita just don’t get it.   Not disqualifying a horse like Appealing Resume in Friday’s 7th race is a dereliction of their duties and — in this case — stealing the money for With A Miracle’s backers.   It’s suppose to be a foul if you  cause bumping while changing your lanes.  But there is no incentive for jockeys to obey the rules of racing if they are rewarded for breaking the rules — as they are in this example.

Simple, if Appealing Resume holds his position, or is a little more cautious in waiting and finding some additional racing room, the result comes in 5,3,8,7.  So committing a foul –caused a loss in finishing position, but in this case it wasn’t the #8 – Addendum (who was bumped by Appealing Resume) whose placing was denied him, it was With A Miracle.   And the only reason for this was that #8 Addendum, who lost his position after being bumped, then re-rallied in very deep stretch to REGAIN his position…   The stewards gave no chance to Addendum – if he was not fouled – rallying and beating With a Miracle.

The real point is they are NOT enforcing the rules and making the game safer, but the exact opposite,  they are engineering outcomes and making the game more dangerous…