You knew it was coming, its been brewing, everything had been way too quiet, now people going off rails, taking to social media and crying blood bath, conspiracy theories, and point fingers. It's a train wreck.
Didn't take long for anger to set in as well. I pray for sanity to return soon, hopefully by Wednesday.
The vitriol that is set forth on social media when this happens makes you think someone got shot and died.
"Dreadful'', ''criminal'', ''the single worst'', ''Arrest them all'' and much more in the Rated R category.
It was inevitable that drama would rear its ugly head and the Stewards are right in the middle of the controversy.
There isn't a week that goes by that the soap opera we call Saratoga, doesn't have some steaming controversy.
The stewards are like that villain on the soaps, like Susan Lucci, Erika Kane on All My Children, she is not one of the stewards, but you would think they would be public enemy #1 in the afternoon soaps, my mother was hooked on them.
These 'villains' took down a 25-1 horse, for brushing a carousel horse in the stretch.
Write Off Jerry, who runs like a carousel horse, more up and down than straight forward, was moved up, did his way of moving influence the 'villains', meaning the judges, or was it a legit take down?
It's not like we haven't seen this before, we have seen more egrigious infractions that were left up. All depends who trains and who rides.
Same situation, Todd Pletcher trains and Irad Ortiz, Jr rides, no change. Eric Cancel and Michael Micelli, take them down. We have seen that scenario over and over.
Certain riders get the benefit of the doubt, others are guilty before presumed innocent and penalized.
Patrick Valenzuela used to be a target for the Southern California stewards.
He was taken down in, in my opinion, a weak DQ one summer day at Del Mar.
I happened to be in the restroom, at the urinal, as the late David Samuel, steward walked in, and before I could say anything he said "you can't argue about that one,'' we are shoulder to shoulder, without going into detail, I simply couldn't resist.
"I defend you guys everytime someone calls you 'The three blind mice', or 'Larry-Curly-Mo', I defend your tough positions you are in, but after that call they are right" as I washed my hands and walked out.
I liked David Samuels a lot, but I got my revenge later that month.
One afternoon I walked in to the media kitchen on the 6th floor at Del Mar, there was coffee grinds, and coffee all over the floor, the coffee machine was on the fritz.
The nice lady that ran the kitchen, came out from the back, and exclaimed "What the hell happen here?".
This was my opportunity for revenge for all those calls that impacted me. "Samuels, he broke the coffee machine and ran out of here,''.
She got on the phone immediately, scolding Samuels for leaving a mess. All I could catch was his stammering on the other end. I decided to take a seat and watch my handywork as he was coming over to clean up 'his' mess.
He walks into the kitchen, and immediately tells the 'kitchen lady' it wasn't him that made the mess.
She looks at me and says "I got a witness", I am not going to lie I was grinning ear to ear.
Fast forward a couple of weeks later, I am in the kitchen, again, and the lady had just cleaned the glass doors, she came back out as I was coming in for a soda.
"Who got their grimey hands all over my glass door,'' once again, I didn't hesitate, "Samuels just left as I was coming in."
I bolted as she called the stewards office looking for Samuels.
I headed down to the winner circle to watch the race, as a friend was waiting for me, I was laughing all the way down the six floors in the elevator.
After the race, I am standing outside the winners circle, when the clerk of scales calls out "Bruno ! Stewards on the phone for you!"
Oh Boy!
I answer "Ola!"
Samuels on the line, "did you tell [kitchen boss] I put my grimey fingers on the glass?" in a very serious tone.
"Non comprendo" I answered. I hear laughter from the other end.
Samuels and I had a great friendship, I would wear the waiter profile and deliver fresh cookies to him, and even send very pretty ladies to give him a hug and a kiss in the paddock.
He had a great sense of humor.
One afternoon I was with a group, and one of the guys had that Trevor Lawrence look to him, and from behind he may have looked like a young lady.
Samuel kept pointing to him as he had his back turned to Samuel, send her 'over', I kept shaking my head no. He keeps pointing, So I sent 'him over. As he turned around to walk over to Samuels, the look on his face was priceless.
Stewards can be villainized and held in contempt by the racing fans, but I have fond memories of creating mayhem with one particular steward, David Samuels.
All stewards are not the same, my relationship really ended when the whole Bayern situation took place in 2014, as I learned they don't see the races the way we do.
They believe that trouble in the early part of the race is not as important as later in the race, and its whom, not the actual foul, and there is THE fallacy in that mode of thinking.
I liked a horse with Adalberto Lopez and he beat a Chris McCarron horse, Chris had done the jack in the box mid-stretch, but he was going nowhere.
Chris gets on the phone with stewards and used his hands to make his case, I couldn't hear what he was saying, but his hands did the talking. Lopez didn't speak English at the time and he picked up the phone backwards, the clerk of scale had to reset the phone in his hands. My buddy and I threw our tickets on the ground, we had no chance. He was Dq'd.
The whole incident at Saratoga this afternoon is bound to happen again and there will be no DQ, and you know there will be another shit show on social media, the $hit $how is inevitable
