Friday Backstretch with Gordon

I guess Friday morning should be an Almost In The Backstretch column as the weather in Lexington is miserable: rainy, windy and cool. It’s supposed to stay like this until late afternoon, but it appears the Kentucky Filly Futurity race card will be raced on an off track. You know it’s not pretty since post time for the card has already been moved back an hour to 1:30. Since I didn’t want to get muddy, I kind of hedged this morning and went directly to the stewards’ office to check on the status of Ron Pierce, who was handed a 10-day suspension, effective this Sunday, for violation of the whipping rule in a Red Mile race last Tuesday. I learned Pierce has appealed and asked for stay.

 

So now what? According to presiding steward Rich Williams, Pierce’s request for the stay can be considered any time through the next five days. According to Kentucky regulations, the stay will be considered by the executive director of the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority—in this case, Lisa Underwood—or a designated representative.

 

Since Pierce’s request came in on Thursday, it doesn’t have to be adjudicated until at the latest by Tuesday, which is the start of the second week of Grand Circuit action at The Red Mile. If Ms. Underwood is the one who hears the appeal, she can then either grant it, deny it, or ignore it, which in that case means that the stay is granted. In any event, Pierce will be driving Friday and Saturday in Lexington since those draws were already held prior to the suspension.

 

I saw brothers Dan and Greg Coon, who obviously have their work cut out for them in preparing the track for today’s races. Dan wanted to know why I even bothered getting out of bed so early this morning with the weather being so lousy (this was at about 8:30 a.m.), so I told him I wanted to see the qualifiers. Dan reluctantly told me the qualies had been canceled (I already knew that though). I then wish he and Greg good luck with the track.

 

I wandered over to the main office and Charlie Bowen was in his office, so I stowed my umbrella in there knowing it was safe there. “It’s a tad wet out there, isn’t it?” Charlie asked. I then hauled myself up to the press box to see its condition, and it wasn’t pretty. After being scrubbed clean earlier in the week, it was now a wet mess, so if you’re one of the masses at the track this afternoon, don’t look for me there. I’ll have to find a dry place.

 

Oh yes, I need to mention some bit of disappointment this morning. I thought after the huge news of the sponsorship of Steve and Cindy Stewart’s Hunterton Sales Agency of this column--which I'm thrilled to have--other companies would be overloading the phone system in the office trying to get hold of my agents, Greg Schuler and Lynne Myers, trying to jump on board. But alas, no shoe company, automaker, nor hotel chain called requesting to jump on board. Myself, I received a call from a company in China that makes stuffed animals, but I declined since I didn’t think it’d be a good fit.