'We Owe An Apology To The Racing Public': Sunland Stewards Admit DQ Error

The board of stewards at Sunland Park in New Mexico mistakenly disqualified a Quarter Horse from second to fourth place on March 3, and the executive director of the state racing commission has issued an apology to horseplayers who may have lost money as a result of the error.

Raul Saucedo's A Separate Star, breaking from the No. 2 post position and ridden by Omar Iturralde, was beaten a neck in the 400-yard claiming race, but shortly after the field of 10 crossed the finish line the stewards lit the inquiry sign. After about two minutes of deliberations, they  disqualified A Separate Star for interference and placed him fourth.

As with many disqualifications, horseplayers took to social media to complain. In this case, their complaints were entirely legitimate. At no point in the race did A Separate Star interfere with or come close to any of his rivals.

Izzy Trejo, executive director of the New Mexico Racing Commission, said the stewards erred in the disqualification. A second set of stewards will review the race on Thursday, March 9, and issue a ruling that is expected to restore the original order of finish.

It's not clear if the stewards who made the wrong call will be sanctioned.

Pari-mutuel payoffs will not be affected. While the owner will get about $5,500 in additional  purse money once the order of finish is corrected, those who bet on A Separate Star to place or show or in exactas and trifectas apparently will not be compensated. A total of $14,584 was wagered in win, place, and show bets, $13,641 in exactas, and $8,247 in trifectas.

"We want to apologize to the people who put their hard-earned money on this race," said Trejo, who called the incident an "oversight" by stewards Connie Estes, Gary Terrien, and David Lupo.

"These are good stewards and I applaud them for being honest and admitting to the error, immediately after it happened," said Trejo. "They took the blame from the get-go. Despite that, we do owe an apology to the wagering public that bet on this race."

While the stewards may have admitted their error to Trejo, no public statement was issued.

Trejo said he could not comment on how the mistake was made, though one Sunland Park horseperson said "word around here is they watched the wrong replay."

The track's television feed showed the correct head-on replay multiple times while the stewards deliberated. At most tracks, that feed represents what the stewards are viewing. If they were watching the wrong replay, it's worth noting that in the previous race, the horse breaking from the same No. 2 post position veered out causing a chain reaction at the start. There was no inquiry or disqualification from that incident as the horse finished seventh.

[herbgarcia]

An Apology? You kidding me? Do the right thing and place the horse accordingly. Above DO YOUR DAMN JOBS.

[brettpozniak]

An apology?? HISA should be fired for allowing this. Things will never ever get better simply because gangsters really run this industry

[Rbaetagar]

Alcohol sales must be through the roof at Sunland Park! Those stewards must be placed on the HISA "can't race" list.

[theravagedgrapefruit]

100% the stewards were watching the wrong race. It was probably something technical they couldn’t figure out.

[force]

Bruh were they watching the previous race thinking it was the current one?

[azbdizzy]

Horse racing is notorious for funny business.

[itsredbowtie]

The stewards should be pumping gas for the rest of their lives. Absolutely ridiculous.

[ronbaket]

The Track didn't do this the stewards did. Plus they broke protocol by not interviewing anyone. Can you say one Bourbon one schocth and one beer.

[micahlowbe]

What did they say they were looking at? Not a single horse was questionable. Actually, the outside of the field had more movement than the inside. The no. 2 had a perfect run. What was their reason?
The winner, no.7, had a slight bump with the no.6 at the break (mostly acceptable in all races)but the no.6 was never in contention. Maybe they intended to penalize the no.7 and unintentionally accused the no.2?

[davidbruder]

The stewards should be fired.
No doubt about it

[jackwoods]

How Exactly Does a Horse Get DQed by "Accident"?...Did They Give People Their $$ Back?...The #2 Did Not do Anything Wrong

[italianwaterice]

it had to be the wrong replay as the race before the 2 impeded the 3&4, , and placing the 2 4th matches up, , , how could the jockeys and trainers not protest when it happened

[dylanpaulsen]

so they watch the replay for the 6th and no inquiry... then watch the same race replay for the 7th and thought the 2 was in the wrong that time? I want whatever they're on lol

[dahoss]

This so-called "Admitted DQ error" cost me nearly five grand. And this isn't the first time I and others have been screwed over.
Gulfstream is one of the worst at stiffing huge favorites, mostly coming out of the back gate and dropping them way back. 1/9s, 1/5s, may as well be 30/1 at that track the way they get those horses purposely beat an overwhelming majority of the time.

And we won't hold our breath hearing about the outcome of the investigation regarding the 5th race on July 20th 2022 at Assiniboia Downs that they have quietly just swept under the rug hoping the betting public has completely forgotten about it. Big time race fix there.