When one racing participant stole another’s whip during a pari-mutuel horse race last December, fans of the sport chalked it up as a crazy occurrence. Well, nine months later, it has happened again.
The December incident came in Ireland. In that instance, jockeys Davy Russell and Phillip Enright were ruled off the Clonmel racecourse after Enright used Russell’s whip in a race.
As an article by the Paulick Report explains, a similar occurrence took place on Monday (September 21) during the fourth race at PARX Casino and Racing in Pennsylvania
In the PARX race, jockeys Angel Castillo and Pierre Hernandez Ortega were aboard their mounts and in tight quarters at the head of the stretch. The piece by the Paulick Report cites the Equibase’s official chart footnotes from the race. The footnotes state that Castillo lost his whip when it got entangled with Ortega’s. Castillo then reached over and grabbed Hernandez Ortega’s whip out of his hands.
Hernandez Ortega urged Distant Thoughts to a second-place finish in the race, while Castillo – who was riding a horse named Interchange, ironically enough – finished off the board.
The piece by the Paulick Report states that Hernandez Ortega did not claim foul in the race and that the presiding stewards did not raise an inquiry over the occurrence. The report also contains a brief item from the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission which states that the incident was not technically illegal.
(With files from the Paulick Report)