A day after the running of the May 4 Kentucky Derby (G1), discussion on the Churchill Downs backstretch centered mostly on its winner, Mystik Dan .
But the second hottest topic was the rough stretch run of the Derby, specifically the repeated bumping between drifting-in runner-up Sierra Leone and Japanese invader and third-place Forever Young , who would finish noses apart, with the runner-up a nose behind Mystik Dan. The contact between the second- and third-place finisher, obvious to on-track observers and in replays of the race, did not result in an inquiry by the three stewards at Churchill Downs.
Ryusei Sakai, aboard Susumu Fujita’s Forever Young, did not claim foul, either.
“Claims of foul do not happen much in Japan,” Hiroshi Ando, racing manager for trainer Yoshito Yahagi, said May 5. “It is the stewards’ call, not us.”
Sakai is not fluent in English. Ando translated his comments from Japanese in interviews with English-speaking reporters in the lead-up to the Derby.
Race replays show Sierra Leone, under Tyler Gaffalione, lugging inward down the stretch, as is the colt’s custom, bumping with Forever Young, who appeared to counter to an extent by leaning into Sierra Leone. Some photographs near the finish show Gaffalione’s riding crop either making contact with Forever Young or coming desperately close to that rival and Sakai.
Here it is!
The full head-on stretch run from yesterday’s Kentucky Derby, complete with music for that extra dose of drama 😉
Sierra Leone v Forever Young 🥊
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— USASteeplechase (@USASteeplechase) May 5, 2024
Kentucky horse racing regulation 810 KAR 4:040.12.3 states that “If a jockey strikes another horse or jockey, it is a foul.”
Chad Brown, trainer of Sierra Leone, said he did not feel an inquiry was warranted. He felt his colt drifting inward and racing in tight quarters may have compromised the Gun Runner colt’s finish.
“What Tyler was attempting to do is make room for his left stick, which the horse really respects, and keep him straight,” he said. “And he was looking for sort of a pathway to use his left stick. But with the bumping, the tight duel between those two horses, it disarmed him with the stick. All he had was a rein to pull on and it really hurt his momentum. He couldn’t use it because he had no room to use his left stick without hitting his horse. He didn’t want to do that either. So he was trying create a path not only to straighten out my horse who really respects that, he was trying not to foul the other horse with the stick.”
Even if an inquiry had taken place to examine the stretch run and a disqualification occurred, Mystik Dan would have remained the winner, not having been involved in that stretch incident.
Sierra Leone earned $1 million by finishing second for partners Peter Brant, Brook Smith, and the Coolmore-affiliated Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, and Westerberg. Third place for Forever Young was worth $500,000 for Fujita.
Stewards can disqualify a horse if they deem an infraction could have potentially cost a rival a better placing.
Mystik Dan (inside) prevails in a three-horse photo finish in the Kentucky Derby
Bettors also had much at stake depending on the outcome between second and third. Millions of dollars in bets were made in place, exacta, trifecta, and superfecta wagers.
Ando said that in Japan, stewards take a proactive role in adjudicating incidents of potential interference, quickly contacting participants after observing an incident.
Claims of fouls can spur North American stewards into action or at least longer reviews before they declare a race official. Kentucky stewards have a reputation for not posting the inquiry sign as often as their counterparts in California, for example.
Even absent an inquiry, stewards regularly review race videos for a short period, as the three stewards regularly do in Kentucky.
The last interference-related disqualification in the Derby occurred following a foul claim and a long inquiry after the 2019 race. After nearly 22 minutes of review by the three stewards, Maximum Security was disqualified and placed 17th for interference. Country House was then elevated to first.
Maximum Security’s owners, Gary and Mary West, appealed that disqualification, but an appeals court ruled that stewards’ decisions in determining fouls and disqualifications of horses are final and not subject to appeal. Kentucky courts have consistently made this determination.
A message left for Barbara Borden, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission’s chief state steward, seeking her perspective on the race, was not returned. KHRC officials rarely issue comments beyond prepared statements to the media, a practice that can leave fans and bettors without prompt explanations of important official decisions.
By mid-afternoon Sunday, the KHRC website had not yet posted stewards’ reports or comments from May 4.
With so much at stake in the Derby, jockeys tend to ride aggressively. Brian Hernandez Jr., who rode victorious Mystik Dan, sent his mount through a narrow opening inside leader Track Phantom leaving the final turn in the Kentucky Derby, a decisive move that propelled Mystik Dan to victory.
“It’s not (Mystik Dan’s) fault the doors opened for him; I wish that would have happened for me,” said Brown, whose other horse, Domestic Product , ran 13th after losing one of his four shoes and “grabbing a quarter,” a minor foot injury.
The doors for Mystik Dan might have been nudged open. Overhead replays of the race show Mystik Dan brushing the inside rail and glancing off Track Phantom as he squeezed through.
Take some guts to put that horse in that hole 🫡 pic.twitter.com/sAbCv9CmKG
— bled (@BLED_) May 5, 2024
Hernandez, who watched replays of the Derby with reporters Saturday evening, was asked Sunday about the contact between Sierra Leone and Forever Young and if the stewards give riders more leeway in the Derby, owing to its significance and 20-horse field. Hernandez does not believe so.
“The stewards here at Churchill—they do an amazing job of watching over the races and stuff like that,” he said. “I think when that came to yesterday, I think that was more of the case of two horses getting tired and just kind of leaning on each other.”
Another showdown between these American and Japanese horses is not set to take place until, at best, the fall. Both Forever Young and Tomoya Ozasa’s T. O. Password, who ran fifth for Daisuke Takayanagi, are scheduled to return to Japan May 7.
“He’s good this morning, no problems but he is tired,” said Japanese-born jockey Kazushi Kimura, who will soon return to Woodbine in Canada, where he is a three-time Sovereign Award winner.
It is too early to determine whether one or both could return in early November at the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar, Ando said. Forever Young’s trainer has a proven track record of running horses there, having gone 2-for-2 at the 2021 Breeders’ Cup there when Marche Lorraine and Loves Only You triumphed at the Southern California track.
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