Horseracing

Team Animal Kingdom still angry

NewsCore NEW YORK POST
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Updated Jun 13, 2011 1:13 PM ET
     
 

Elmont, NY

Animal Kingdom jockey John Velazquez and Barry Irwin, head of the Team Valor International syndicate which owns the horse, were still fuming Sunday over the incident at the start of Saturday's Belmont Stakes that cost their colt, the 5-2 favorite, any chance of winning.

The Kentucky Derby winner was bumped hard a few strides out of the gate, clipped heels and stumbled, forcing Velazquez to lose his left stirrup — effectively eliminating Animal Kingdom from the race.

"Mud didn't cost AK the Belmont," Irwin wrote on his Facebook page. "At the break, Isn't He Perfect came over at the break, intimidated Mucho Macho Man, who slammed into Animal Kingdom so hard that our colt nearly went down. Our jockey lost his left iron, which was not corrected until the turn. We never had a chance. Isn't He Perfect had no business being in this race and he screwed it up for a lot of horses. Classics are no place for amateurs."

Velazquez blamed Isn't He Perfect's rider, Rajiv Maragh, for causing the trouble.

"I was pretty mad [after the race]," he said. "I was so frustrated. How did that horse wind up on top of me four or five jumps out of the gate? Things like that shouldn't happen. It's stupidity."

Velazquez said he complained to the stewards about Maragh's ride. The jockeys and stewards will go over films of the race Wednesday.

Read more here.

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