Kentucky Derby 2011 winner Animal Kingdom suffers - Rajiv Maragh banned for Belmont Stakes 2011 incident
John Velazquez was very critical of Rajiv Maragh, whose initial mistake at the break in the 2011 Belmont Stakes, led to a chain reaction of bumps, which resulted in Animal Kingdom’s near fall and he could have thrown jockey, John Velazquez, off his back.
The stewards in New York handed Rajiv Maragh with a 10 day ban from racing for careless riding. Rajiv, who got his 1000th victory when he guided Mint Maker in the Gulfstream Park race, possibly spoiled the chances of the Kentucky Derby winner,
Animal Kingdom.
At the break, Isn’t He Perfect guided by Rajiv Maragh started a series of bumps when he initially bumped into Mucho Macho Man, who stumbled, and, the chain reaction led to the Kentucky Derby winner, Animal Kingdom, who was out to make history by winning
the Belmont Stakes, to falter.
The rubber match between Shackleford and Animal Kingdom suffered right at the start when all the unwanted stumbling took place and it cleared out the field for many long shots, such as the winner, Ruler on Ice.
The bad start turned out ugly for the Kentucky Derby winner, who sustained a fissure on the cannon bone, due to clipping his heels with another horse in the Belmont Stakes. It is a minor crack at the top bone but trainer, Graham Motion, is not ready to take
risks and he is going to leave the horse to heal it out with time by keeping him inactive over the summer campaign.
The colt will go on to miss the Grade One Haskell Invitational and a series of summer clashes.
Rajiv Maragh’s Isn’t He Perfect had a 30-to-1 winning shot at the Belmont. Maragh stated after the race that it was an unfortunate incident and that he did not premeditate the collision before because he has nothing against any one and it was unfortunate
that it all happened.
His 10 day ban was reduced to a 7 day ban without racing. He appealed against the ban, which resulted in reducing 3 days, of the original 10 day ban.
Things got really heated up when Jockey John Velazquez, who was riding Animal Kingdom, blamed Rajiv Maragh and held him responsible for the Kentucky Derby winner’s defeat in the Belmont Stakes.
Velazquez was furious when interviewed about it. He said that something like this shouldn’t happen in a race track and it is so frustrating and that he shouldn’t be playing something like this in the race. He further said that it was stupid and that it shouldn’t
happen.
Tags: