OCEANPORT, N.J. - Hot Rod Charlie and Mandaloun, the first two across the finish, are headed in different directions after the chaotic conclusion to the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell on Saturday at Monmouth Park. Hot Rod Charlie and jockey Flavien Prat had the lead outside Midnight Bourbon, who was between horses, and Mandaloun, who raced nearest the rail, but failed to keep a straight course at the eighth pole. As Hot Rod Charlie edged left, Midnight Bourbon’s foreleg clipped Hot Rod Charlie, causing Midnight Bourbon to stumble badly as jockey Paco Lopez lost his seat and fell. Hot Rod Charlie and Mandaloun battled to the wire, Hot Rod Charlie coming out a nose on top, but stewards immediately announced an inquiry and Hot Rod Charlie was disqualified. His official finishing position was recorded as last of seven, as a disqualified horse must be placed behind the fouled rival, though Midnight Bourbon obviously didn’t complete the course. Midnight Bourbon immediately righted himself and ran with the trailing horses onto the backstretch, where he was caught by an outrider and eventually ponied back to trainer Steve Asmussen’s barn. Scans performed on Midnight Bourbon on Sunday came back clean and the colt, while cut and scraped, will be shipped back to Asmussen’s stable at Saratoga on Monday, with plans to be determined. :: Get Daily Racing Form Past Performances – the exclusive home of Beyer Speed Figures Lopez was immobilized on a stretcher and taken off the track in an ambulance, but within 20 minutes was back on his feet, reportedly suffering from nothing worse than relatively minor knee pain. Hot Rod Charlie came out of the race with a cut high on a hind leg that trainer Doug O’Neill, who visited his charge Sunday morning on the Monmouth backstretch, described as “superficial.” “He’s walking and jogging sound,” O’Neill said. “We’re grateful that Midnight Bourbon and Paco are okay.” O’Neill said he watched the Haskell, in which Hot Rod Charlie was an odds-on favorite, from the track apron and didn’t even see Midnight Bourbon fall. “I was so elated. I never saw the horse go down,” he said. Hot Rod Charlie, who turned in strong performances finishing third in the Kentucky Derby and second in the Belmont Stakes, flies to California on Tuesday and goes into O’Neill’s barn at Del Mar. Hot Rod Charlie shipped to Louisiana in March, to Kentucky in late April, to New York in early June, and to Monmouth last week, and his connections are loath to go out on the road again for a race such as the Travers at Saratoga. O’Neill said the Pacific Classic, in which Hot Rod Charlie would face older horses, “would be very tempting.” The 1 1/4-mile Pacific Classic is Aug. 21 at Del Mar, and Hot Rod Charlie would carry 118 pounds, six fewer than his older rivals. Hot Rod Charlie had raced in blinkers his last six starts but O’Neill, believing his horse had matured and no longer needed blinkers, took them off for the Haskell. “Lugging in, that’s never been a problem, but maybe it’s a question you ask, with the blinkers off,” O’Neill said. “Anytime something like that happens, all kinds of things go through your head. Talking to Flavien after the race, I mentioned, ‘Do you think we put the blinkers back on?’ and he said no. He said – paraphrasing here – he could have prevented things with a gentle left-handed stick.” Jockeys at Monmouth can’t use their whip except in cases where safety could be compromised. Obviously, an unsafe situation arose in the Haskell, but Prat, trying to straighten his mount with his hands and the reins, wouldn’t have known he was about to contribute to a spill. As for Mandaloun, he departed Monmouth early Sunday morning for Saratoga, where he will join Brad Cox’s other top 3-year-old, Essential Quality, the Belmont winner who is pointed to the Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga. Cox, since the Kentucky Derby, has kept Mandaloun and Essential Quality on different tracks, and though he mentioned the Travers Stakes as one possible spot for Mandaloun, that race is the major goal for Essential Quality, provided he performs to standard in the Jim Dandy. The other race Cox mentioned is the Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 25 at Parx Racing, and Cox on Sunday said awaiting that spot with Mandaloun wasn’t out of the question. :: Bet the races with confidence on DRF Bets. You're one click away from the only top-rated betting platform fully integrated with exclusive data, analysis, and expert picks. “The horse looks fine coming out if it,” Cox said. “I haven’t seen that much of him yet, but he looks bright.” Mandaloun improved considerably upon his narrow win here last month in the Pegasus Stakes. He pushed hard through the final half-furlong and was gaining on Hot Rod Charlie in the final yards, both horses posting a 102 Beyer Speed Figure. Mandaloun also stands to be placed first in the Kentucky Derby if and when Medina Spirit is disqualified for a positive drug test. Following Sea, the 7-2 third choice, was a beaten horse when jockey Joel Rosario had to check sharply to avoid Lopez. Making his first route and stakes start after a pair of sharp one-turn victories, Following Sea made the lead from post 1, but offered little resistance when challenged by Midnight Bourbon past the three-furlong marker. Following Sea wound up being placed second, but was beaten nearly 19 lengths by the top two. “I don’t think the track was particularly kind to speed throughout the day, but we weren’t going to change styles because of it,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “I think he’s a better horse than that. Kind of hard to evaluate the last eighth of a mile, but he was clearly beaten at that point. We’ll regroup and see how he’s training and come up with a plan that may or may not include the Allen Jerkens.” The Jerkens is a Grade 1, $500,000 seven-furlong race at Saratoga on Aug. 28. Following Sea was scheduled to van to Saratoga on Monday. It was a Cox horse who narrowly averted disaster the race before the Haskell in the Grade 1 United Nations, where Arklow clipped heels at the three-furlong marker and nearly fell. He recovered to finish sixth and escaped injury in the race, Cox said, with a next start to come either in the Sword Dancer at Saratoga or the Turf Cup at Kentucky Downs. Tribhuvan, who wired the United Nations, earning a 102 Beyer, has been shipped back to trainer Chad Brown’s string at Saratoga and will be pointed to the Sword Dancer on Aug. 28. --Additional reporting by David Grening