Jockey Is Criticized After Stumble-Causing Intrusion

Jockey Jeremy Rose may not have objected to the whipping of Scrappy T that almost led to a nasty spill in the Preakness, but trainer Tim Ritchey did.

The morning after Ritchey and Rose won Saturday’s Preakness with Afleet Alex, Ritchey criticized Ramon Dominguez for causing Scrappy T to veer into Afleet Alex’s path leaving the turn for home. Incredibly, Afleet Alex regained his footing after clipping heels and stumbling, his nose almost touching the ground. He went on to win the middle leg of the Triple Crown by 4 3/4 lengths.

Ritchey watched the race with Chuck Zacney, managing partner of the group that owns Afleet Alex.

“When our horse made his move, I said to Chuck, ‘He’s going to win in a gallop,’ ” Ritchey said. “I don’t know why [Dominguez] hit his horse. You don’t do that at that point of the race.”

Later, another wave of reporters arrived at Pimlico’s stakes barn and the question was again asked about Dominguez’s tactics.

Ritchey paused and said: “My father said a long time ago that if you don’t have anything good to say about anybody, don’t say anything. Next question.”

Although Rose, 26, was riding in his first Preakness, Dominguez, 28, had ridden in the race three times before Saturday. Dominguez is one of racing’s leading riders. He led North America with 431 wins in 2001. After a broken wrist sidelined him for three months in 2002, he won 836 races in 2003-04, and last year his winning percentage of .283 was the best in the U.S.

Dominguez said he had hit Scrappy T with his whip in order to gain the colt’s attention.

“We were on the lead, but my horse was looking around a bit,” Dominguez said. “He was running straight, he wasn’t zigging or zagging. I hit him left-handed, and he overreacted. We went from the inside to the middle of the track.”

And into the path of the oncoming Afleet Alex, who was barreling for the lead from the outside.

Scrappy T, who finished second, was ridden by Dominguez for the first time. After riding High Limit, the last-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby, Dominguez switched to Scrappy T for the Preakness.

“If Afleet Alex went down, it could have been a real mess,” said Corey Nakatani, who rode Wilko, one of 12 trailing horses who might have trampled Rose had he fell.

Feeling the clipping of heels behind him, Dominguez looked backward for a couple of seconds, to see if Rose survived the contact.

After the race, Dominguez said to Rose: “I thought you were coming off.”

“So did I,” Rose said.

Ritchey said that Afleet Alex suffered a superficial scraping of his left front ankle, but it seemed to be nothing that would keep him from running in the Belmont Stakes, the Triple Crown windup, June 11.

“His left hind clipped his left front,” Ritchey said. “It took a little hair off. We’ll keep him at Pimlico an extra day, to make sure there’s no muscle injury, and then van him to New York, probably on Friday. It’s amazing he finished the race, let alone winning it.”

John Servis, who trained Smarty Jones, last year’s Derby-Preakness winner, is a friend of Ritchey’s.

“It was an amazing thing, that your horse stood up,” Servis said when he called Ritchey on Saturday night.

Afleet Alex was third in the Derby, beaten by one length.

“You look back now,” Rose said, “and there should have been somewhere going around there that I could have picked up a length.”

Giacomo, third in the Preakness after winning the Derby, also is expected to run in the Belmont. The plans for Scrappy T are uncertain. Trainer Nick Zito, who had eight starters in the Derby and Preakness, said that two of his horses, Andromeda’s Hero and Pinpoint, might run in the Belmont, a race he won last year with Birdstone. Andromeda’s Hero was eighth in the Derby and skipped the Preakness. In only his fourth start, all since Feb. 12, Pinpoint won the Sir Barton Stakes on the Preakness undercard.

Buzzards Bay, winner of the Santa Anita Derby and fifth in the Kentucky Derby, is a Belmont probable.

A.P. Arrow might run in the Belmont, trainer Wayne Lukas said. Southern Africa and Shamoan, both based at Santa Anita, might run. They ran 1-2 in the Lone Star Derby.

Southern Africa’s appearance in the Belmont is contingent on the way he runs Saturday in the $200,000 Peter Pan at Belmont Park. Some other Belmont Stakes horses may emerge from the Peter Pan.

Lukas’ Going Wild finished last in the Preakness and, while finishing ahead of only four horses, has been beaten by 128 1/4 lengths in his last four races.

“The best horse won [Saturday],” Lukas said. “But we’ll see in the Belmont. Look at how Smarty Jones dominated last year, and still didn’t win the Belmont. This horse [Afleet Alex] has only won one of the races.”

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Triple Crown ratings

Tribune Co. ratings for 3-year-olds leading to the Belmont Stakes:

*--* Horse Jockey Trainer St W P S Last race Next race 1. Afleet Jeremy Tim 11 7 2 1 Preakness Belmont Alex Rose Ritchey (1st) Stakes, June 11 2. Giacomo Mike E. John 9 2 2 3 Preakness Belmont Smith Shirref (3rd) Stakes, June fs 11 3. Ramon Robert 10 3 5 2 Preakness Undecided Scrappy T Domingue Bailes (2nd) z 4. Cornelio Kiaran 9 3 3 2 Preakness Undecided Closing Velasque McLaugh (9th) Argument z lin 5. Javier Nick 6 4 0 0 Kentucky Undecided Bellamy Castella Zito Derby Road no (7th) 6. Don’t Tyler Ron 7 3 1 1 Kentucky Undecided Get Mad Baze Ellis Derby (4th) 7. Mark Jeff 9 3 1 2 Kentucky Belmont Buzzards Guidry Mullins Derby Stakes, June Bay (5th) 11 8. Sun Rafael Nick 9 3 0 2 Preakness Undecided King Bejarano Zito (4th) 9. Rafael Nick 4 3 0 0 Sir Barton Belmont Pinpoint Bejarano Zito (1st) Stakes, June 11 10. Noble Gary Nick 8 2 3 0 Preakness Undecided Causeway Stevens Zito (6th)

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The panel: Bill Christine, Los Angeles Times; Tom Keyser, Baltimore Sun; Dave Joseph, South Florida Sun-Sentinel; Neil Milbert, Chicago Tribune; Paul Moran, Newsday.