Saratoga pick six canceled after distance change to Race 4
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The pick six on Sunday at Saratoga that featured a carryover of $166,702 was canceled and pushed back to Thursday’s card after the distance of the fourth race, the first leg of the wager, was changed due to safety concerns expressed by the jockeys to management.
Race 4 was for 2-year-old maidens scheduled for one mile on the inner turf course. The jockeys told management Sunday - four days after the card was drawn - that they did not want to ride that distance because of the short run to the first turn and how inexperienced 2-year-olds handle it.
To satisfy the riders’ concerns, management adjusted the distance of the race to 1 1/16 miles. New York Racing Association management then made the decision to cancel the pick six because of that distance change.
“The decision was made to protect the gamblers who had already wagered and wouldn’t have time to react,” said Tony Allevato, NYRA’s chief revenue officer and president of NYRA Bets. “The race was run at a different distance.”
According to jockey John Velazquez, the riders had expressed their concerns in previous years to management about running one-mile races on the turf for 2-year-olds. However, last year there were four such races carded - two were run at that distance on turf and two were rained off to the main track. There was a 2-year-old race run at one mile on Friday that drew seven and went with six. In that race, a bit broke on Fire Angel, who was pulled up and taken out of the race.
The riders used that incident as more evidence as to why they believe one-mile races for 2-year-olds on the inner turf is dangerous.
“We didn’t make a big deal about it, then when the race was run see what happened... and that was a six-horse field,” jockey Junior Alvarado said. “That’s why we don’t like the mile with the 2-year-olds and they came back with it again.”
Sunday’s race, entries for which were taken Wednesday, was drawn with 11, but there was one scratch so it ended up running with 10.
“Way too many horses going to the first turn with 2-year-olds,” Velazquez said. “Very tight turns. It’s about safety, that’s what we’re talking about. It happened the other day, one broke the bridle, a mess with only six horses. We’re trying to avoid that and give a chance to the horses where we can control the horses going to the first turn and hopefully we are safe.”
Velazquez said he notified NYRA steward Victor Escobar between 11:30 a.m. and noon Sunday about the rider’s concerns about riding the fourth race. Escobar as well as Andrew Offerman, NYRA’s senior vice president of racing operations, both understood the jockey’s concerns to be about field size, not the distance itself.
“Obviously, a communication breakdown I think between the parties relative to the issue,” Offerman said. “I was under the impression they had a field-size concern relative to this distance, not that there was a concern about the distance itself, and that was further evidenced by the fact that the distance had been run previously at the meet and last year.”
Offerman said that before the race card began, it was his understanding the jockeys were willing to ride Sunday’s race at one mile and that NYRA “would make an adjustment to field-size constraints moving forward, but there wasn’t an issue relative to today,” Offerman said.
Offerman indicated that races currently in the condition book for 2-year-olds carded at one mile would be changed to 1 1/16 miles moving forward.
In addition to canceling the pick six, the change of distance to Race 4 created havoc with other multi-race wagers that involved that race. Race 4 was designated an all-win for purposes of the pick four and pick five that commenced in races 1, 2 and 3. Daily double and pick three wagers that began in Race 4 were canceled.
The pick three that began in races 2 and 3 was not impacted.
The pick six on Thursday will begin with Race 4.
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