Apprentice Torres suspended 14 days; Belmont riders question penalty length

ELMONT, N.Y. - The New York stewards suspended apprentice jockey Jaime Torres 14 calendar days for his ride aboard Wonder Girl in Monday’s second race at Belmont Park.

Torres has appealed the suspension.

Wonder Girl crossed the finish line first, but Torres allowed her to drift out several paths in the stretch, carrying out the runner-up Nightsaber, who, under Irad Ortiz Jr., finished second, beaten one length.

There was a jockey’s objection and a stewards’ inquiry into the race and the stewards disqualified Wonder Girl from first and placed her second behind Nightsaber.

The 14-day penalty seemed especially high for a violation that typically brings anywhere from a three- to seven-day penalty. Between 16 and 18 jockeys present to ride Tuesday at Belmont asked for a meeting with the stewards to ask them to reconsider the amount of days in the penalty.

“Everybody feels it wasn’t an incident to receive 14 days, that’s why we want to talk to the stewards and hopefully they reconsider the amount of days they’re giving him,” said Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez, the co-chairman of the Jockeys’ Guild who rode at Belmont on Tuesday. “We all agree he definitely deserves his days, he definitely needed to be disqualified, just the amount of days didn’t fit the [violation].”

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Braulio Baeza Jr., the New York Gaming Commission steward, said because Torres is appealing the suspension, he would not comment on why the penalty was 14 days.

In April, Torres was suspended 14 New York Racing Association racing days for a careless riding incident at Aqueduct when his mount, Central Speed, ducked in from Torres’ right-handed whip. It created a spill in which two jockeys were unseated and one of those riders, Jose Lezcano, suffered a broken bone in his hand and was out six weeks.

Torres has ridden six winners from 122 mounts at the Belmont meet. However, he has won 29 races from 126 mounts at Parx, putting him in a tie for 10th in that track’s rider standings.

Angel Cordero Jr., the Hall of Fame rider who represents Torres, called the 14-day suspension “unbelievable. They said he never made an effort to take his horse away from the other guy.”

In anticipation of taking the days starting Saturday, Cordero had already made arrangements to take Torres off his lone mount on Saturday’s card, Bay Bank, in race 12. The stewards said Joel Rosario will now ride that horse.

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