Americans level after Secret Gesture demotion on Arlington Million card

Qatar Racing need to learn from this lesson. The facts are that different jurisdictions apply different laws and when visiting America the rules of racing tend to differ as soon as you cross a state line, writes Geoffrey Riddle.

Secret Gesture, left, was demoted to third in the Beverly D Stakes as Watsdachances, right, was the winner. Mathea Kelly / Racingfotos.com

The Arlington Million card was run in driving rain on Saturday night in Illinois, but an almighty storm occurred after European raider Secret Gesture crossed the line first in the Beverly D Stakes.

The European raiders looked to have secured an unassailable lead in the graded races on the card after German challenger Lucky Speed had won the American St Leger and Aidan O’Brien’s Highland Reel had dominated the Secretariat Stakes.

Secret Gesture was demoted, however, after it was judged by the stewards that she had interfered with Stephanie’s Kitten, costing her second place as she finished a neck adrift of Watsdachances.

Watsdachances was promoted to first place for jockey Joe Bravo and trainer Chad Brown, and the Americans then went on to level the scores when The Pizza Man delivered to become the first horse bred in Illinois to win the Arlington Million.

Secret Gesture had taken the lead inside the final 200 metres with Jamie Spencer holding his whip in his left hand. His mount began to drift right, at which Spencer correctly moved his whip in to his right hand in an effort to stop the sideways movement.

It was not enough and, as Irad Ortiz snatched up Stephanie’s Kitten slightly, he made the sort of histrionics that would not be out of place in an English Premier League match.

David Redvers, racing manager to Secret Gesture’s owners, Qatar Racing, was incensed at the decision and was mulling an appeal. It is highly unlikely to be successful, though.

The laws of the Illinois Racing Board are clear. Section 1416.5, subsection-b that deals with disqualifications reads: “A horse crossing in front of another horse so as actually to impede the latter may be disqualified, unless the impeded horse was partly in fault or the crossing was wholly caused by the fault of some other horse or jockey.”

The Arlington Park stewards are well versed in applying the law. Two seasons ago, Mike de Kock’s The Apache was demoted from first in favour of Real Solution, ironically also trained by Brown.

Spencer experienced the ignominy of disqualification before when, in 2004, Powerscourt finished first and was demoted to fourth place.

A year before that, another European raider, Storming Home, was disqualified.

Qatar Racing is a fledgling international racing operation – their first win at the highest level was Trade Storm in the Woodbine Mile in September 2014.

They need to learn from this lesson – if you race internationally, you must abide by the local rules. The facts are that different jurisdictions apply different laws and when visiting America the rules of racing tend to differ as soon as you cross a state line.

Although Redvers understandably is aggrieved – Secret Gesture looked the winner on merit – his feelings of injustice stem largely from the fact that only in Britain would Secret Gesture have kept the race.

Secret Gesture would have been almost certainly disqualified had the race been staged in France or Hong Kong, and had it taken place at Meydan, according to law 70 (i) of the Emirates Racing Authority rules of racing, Secret Gesture would most likely have been taken down, also. The sooner racing gets its house in order and comes up with a basic set of rules that are applicable worldwide, or even just for top rated international events, the better.

The UAE had four runners in the Prix Jacques Le Marois at Deauville yesterday, but were out of luck as Esoterique won the Group 1 1,600m contest from Godolphin’s Territories.

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