We are a deeply divided nation. Our differences are fundamental and fervently held. There seems to be little middle ground, or precious room for compromise. So, at least for now, we must live with the fact that half the racing world thinks Umberto Rispoli took a foolhardy chance and got away with it, and the other half would hang Flavien Prat by his thumbs for nearly turning the 150th Preakness Stakes (G1) into a nightmare.
On both social and serious media, opinions since the May 17 race have rained down like confetti, mostly revealing either a prejudice free from logic or an inability to believe what can be seen on the snatches of video available to the public. (Are drone shots cool or what?)
The Maryland stewards, having enjoyed five days of leisure since their perfunctory look at the race, declared after meeting May 23 that there would be no penalties levied, which meant that both the results and the controversy stood.
In times like these, it is important to seek wise counsel. Someone with experience must have the definitive analysis of the potentially dangerous scrum that took place between the quarter pole and the three-sixteenths pole of the Preakness when Journalism and Rispoli were caught in the tightest possible quarters between Clever Again, under Jose Ortiz, on the rail and Goal Oriented, with Prat, to their right. This reporter decided to call upon two of the cool heads who have been there and done that, all the way to the Hall of Fame.
Darrel McHargue won the 1975 Preakness and a pile of other major events on his way to 2,553 North American winners. After retiring from the saddle in 1988, he went on to a respected career as a California steward, then assumed the position of chief steward for the California Horse Racing Board, which means he has had to be in tune with every national and international development in the world of officiating, while trying to keep his own house in order.
Chris McCarron retired in 2002 with 7,141 winners, including Preakness victories in 1987 and 1992. McCarron later went on to help establish the North American Racing Academy in Kentucky, where a number of young riders were able to get their early training.
Surely, guys like McHargue and McCarron could provide some kind of consensus regarding the Preakness rumble, and thereby quell the uninformed chatter. McCarron was on the links Friday morning in Kentucky, so McHargue was first to answer a reporter's call.
"When you're on a horse the caliber of Journalism, and the deck is stacked against you with an inside post, if you get the chance to get out from behind horses you take it, and go around," McHargue began. "For whatever reasons, Rispoli didn't do that, which is a tactical decision. And it may work out, although the chances of it working out when you're the favorite are very slim. He put himself in a position where he could be trapped.
"At that point, it's up to the other jockeys who are riding their own race to hold their ground," McHargue continued. "But how much ground do you hold? It's one thing to hold a lane, or even gain a lane smoothly without forcing another horse to break stride. To me, that's where Flavien Prat crossed the line, as he was holding the other horse in. Yes, that horse is probably bumping his horse in the rear end and turning him. But there's a line where you're taking a chance to endanger horses and endanger riders, and that's the line Prat crossed.
"Could it all have been avoided if Rispoli had made a different tactical decision? I would think so," McHargue added. "But he didn't, and you have to deal with what happened, not what might have happened."
McCarron called right after knocking the turf off his golf spikes. He agreed with McHargue's criticism of Rispoli's decision to probe the inside rather than sacrifice ground and take Journalism wide. McCarron also conceded that Journalism might have been sending his jockey mixed signals.
"At the three-eighths pole, it looked like he was struggling to make up any ground," McCarron said. "It looks like that colt takes a little riding to actually get him going. Obviously, though, the decision Rispoli made put him in a jackpot, and I don't think Prat is to blame at all."
Oh no, here we go.
"In my opinion, Rispoli really didn't have any room to go up in there," McCarron went on. "He had enough room to get Journalism's neck in there, and he was going to have to hope Prat's colt would go ahead and move out a little bit.
"Frankly, I think Prat went out of his way to make a yeoman's effort to turn his horse's head sharply to the right and pull off Rispoli," McCarron concluded. "I like to think I wouldn't have done that. It's all split second, of course, but my thought would have been, 'Hey, there's no room in here. I'm not going to let you through!' As far as I'm concerned, Prat saved the day, in spite of the mistake Rispoli made."
Rispoli's tactical decision reminded McHargue of a certain story from his riding days.
"A very well-known jockey who won thousands of races had a brief conversation with Bill Shoemaker after coming back to the jocks room at Santa Anita after a race," McHargue said. "This jock had been on a champion mare, trying to save ground and keep her on the inside—basically ride her the way he usually rode other horses. Finally, he whipped her to the outside around the three-eighths pole, and she went on to win by seven or eight. Shoemaker looks at the jock and says, 'Well, you finally figured out how to ride those kind, didn't you?'"
Journalism is those kind. All he needs is a clear shot and about an eighth of a mile to run his race.
In two weeks, the Preakness story still will be fresh as the 3-year-old gang reconvenes at Saratoga Race Course for another 1 1/4-mile version of the Belmont Stakes (G1), and if all goes all well, the key players will be present and accounted for. Junior Alvarado will be primed with Sovereignty, his winner of the Kentucky Derby (G1), and hopefully Journalism will be back, with Rispoli attached. Prat has the call on Baeza, who finished a neck behind runner-up Journalism in the Derby.
But first, just to keep the drama alive, at around five o'clock May 26, Memorial Day afternoon, Rispoli and Prat will find themselves side by side in the Santa Anita Park starting gate awaiting the bell for the Shoemaker Mile Stakes (G1T). Rispoli rides Formidable Man, while Prat is aboard King of Gosford. Chances are, they'll be the top two in the betting, and if form holds true, both colts should be right there at the end.
By then, it is presumed Rispoli will have had a chance to talk with Prat about the 150th running of the Preakness Stakes. Since Italy and France are neighbors, let's hope they all get along—or at least leave it in the room—while the game sighs a relief that there were no casualties in the Battle of Old Hilltop.
