A Week Later, Derby Lacks Photo Finish

The lawyer for Jose Santos, the Kentucky Derby-winning jockey, said Saturday that Santos expects to be cleared of any wrongdoing in an investigation about whether he may have used an electrical prod to urge Funny Cide to victory.

Santos, who won his first Derby on May 3, found himself in a defensive mode after the Miami Herald revisited a widely published photo of the jockey reaching the finish line with Funny Cide at Churchill Downs. In a story in Saturday’s Herald, it was suggested that Santos may have had something in his right hand besides a whip.

On Thursday, the newspaper informed the three Churchill Downs stewards of its findings. The Herald quoted Rick Leigh, one of the stewards, as saying: “I looked at the photos and it looks very suspicious.”

Santos’ attorney, Karen Murphy, said that she and the jockey would attend a hearing before the stewards Monday morning in Louisville, Ky. Jack Knowlton, the managing partner of the syndicate that races Funny Cide, will also attend the hearing.

“We want to get this over with and behind us,” Murphy said. “I am confident that Jose will be fully exonerated. There is another picture, from Associated Press, that shows the same moment and shows that there was nothing there.”

The photo referred to in the Herald story was taken by Jamie Squire for Getty Images.

“Now that I look at it, it’s pretty interesting,” Squire was quoted in the Herald. “I definitely see something in his hand besides the whip. It’s an object, and I definitely did not alter the photograph. I stand by my reputation on that.”

Barclay Tagg, the trainer of Funny Cide, defended Santos.

“This is absurd,” Tagg said. “I give it no credence, and Jose doesn’t either. You can see right through [Santos’] whole hand. I don’t know what they’re talking about. They’re nuts.”

Santos’ agent, Mike Sellito, said that he was not concerned.

“Anything that’s been said is false,” Sellito said. “There’s nothing to this. We’ve got this in hand, and everything’s going to come out perfect.”

Funny Cide, who’s in training at Belmont Park in New York, is scheduled to be vanned to Baltimore for next Saturday’s Preakness, the second leg in the Triple Crown. For a while Saturday, trainer Bobby Frankel considered running Empire Maker, the Derby runner-up, in the Preakness, but later in the day, in an interview with Television Games Network, he said that the colt would skip the Pimlico race to run in the Belmont Stakes on June 7. Frankel plans to run Peace Rules, who ran third in the Derby, in the Preakness.

“After watching the replay of the Derby, it doesn’t look like anything happened,” Frankel said. “So I think I am going with my original plan. Unless the [Churchill Downs] stewards rule something or find something I don’t know about, I’m going to stick with Peace Rules.”

Were Funny Cide to be disqualified in the Derby, Empire Maker would be moved up to first place and become eligible to sweep the Triple Crown. No horse has swept the Derby-Preakness-Belmont series since Affirmed in 1978.

The Santos controversy has once more cast a cloud over a struggling sport that recently has been lambasted after its biggest days. In October, a trio of former college fraternity brothers conspired to bet some of the races in the Breeders’ Cup pick six after they had already been run. They expected to collect more than $3 million in payoffs before their scheme was discovered. All three received prison sentences earlier this year, but the integrity of the tote system, the foundation of a gambling game, was called into question.

The only Derby winner ever disqualified was Dancer’s Image, who tested positive for phenylbutazone, then an illegal anti-inflammatory drug in Kentucky, after winning in 1968. Forward Pass, moved up to first place in the Derby, won the Preakness, then racing was saved from having a Triple Crown winner with an asterisk when he finished second in the Belmont.

In 1995, in a story in the Daily Racing Form, it was suggested that Gary Stevens, seconds after winning the Derby with Thunder Gulch, may have handed something to another jockey, Pat Day, who finished third aboard Timber Country, a stablemate of the winner. That speculation was also fueled by photos taken of the race, but an investigation produced no irregularities.

“All that was ridiculous, and so is this stuff about Santos,” Stevens said Saturday at Hollywood Park, just before he rode Storming Home to victory in the Jim Murray Memorial Handicap. “If Jose had something in his hand, he would have to be a physical genius, to be able to twirl his whip and use whatever he was supposed to have. Already they’re getting ready to crucify him, and I’ve heard that he should never be allowed to ride again. He may not have to. He might get enough from a slander suit that he’ll wind up owning that newspaper.”

Stevens’ mount, Buddy Gil, finished sixth in this year’s Derby.

Asked if Santos might sue the Miami Herald, Murphy said: “I don’t want to go there.”

She added that the Chilean-born Santos, perhaps because of a language difference, had been misquoted in the Herald story.

“I’m 100% sure that he didn’t tell [the reporters] that he had something called a ‘cue ring’ in his hand to alert the outriders,” Murphy said. “What he did say was that he was wearing a Q-ray, a silver bracelet that helps with arthritis. His wife [Rita] had given it to him on April 26, on his birthday. Unfortunately, there appears to be no tape recording of his conversation [with the Herald].”

Terry Meyocks, president of the New York Racing Assn., which operates Belmont Park, said that he had had his track photographer enlarge by computer the photo of Santos.

“You look through [Santos’ hand],” Meyocks said, “and see [Juddmonte Farm’s] turquoise colors behind Funny Cide.”

Juddmonte owns Empire Maker, the favorite who was beaten by 1 3/4 lengths.

Santos was an Eclipse award-winning jockey in 1988. He rode Volponi, at 43-1, to victory in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic and in 1999 he was aboard Lemon Drop Kid as they won the Belmont and spoiled Charismatic’s bid for a Triple Crown sweep. At Belmont Park on Saturday, Santos rode House Party to victory in the $200,000 Nassau County Stakes.

While batteries -- also known as “machines” or “joints” -- have been found around the track for years, seldom have they turned up in connection with major races. But in 1999, after Valhol, a 30-1 shot who had never won a race, captured the Arkansas Derby, stewards at Oaklawn Park disqualified the horse and suspended his jockey, Billy Patin, for five years. Patin had been seen on a videotape of the race holding a suspicious object in one of his hands, and a battery was found on the track shortly after the race was run. Valhol’s owner, James Jackson, disbanded his stable last year, saying he was tired of being asked about the incident, although he still races Valhol.

While some horses take off when jolted by a battery, others have been known to spook, bolt or even quit running.

“A battery can be a real jolt,” a California racing official said a few years ago. “You’d think you were hit by 110 volts.”

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Derby Doubt

The photo below stirred speculation that jockey Jose Santos had an illegal device in his right hand when he rode Funny Cide to victory in the Kentucky Derby on May 3. Churchill Downs stewards are investigating whether Santos had something in his hand besides his whip.