Purse money withheld in Michigan Sire Stakes 'Goose Race'

Purse money for the $120,550 Michigan Sire Stakes final for 2-year-old filly trotters, which state officials had ordered re-raced after the first race was declared “no contest” when geese bothered two of the starters, has been withheld pending an appeal by the owners of the horse that won the first race.

Locksweeper won the first go-round of the Sire Stakes final Sept. 22 at Hazel Park, but the stewards subsequently ruled all wagers refunded due to the incident with the geese as the wings of the starting gate were folding. The betting favorite in that race, Keyanna Rose, made a break when struck by one of the geese and was pulled up by driver Henry Wilson. The other horse bothered, Engamer Benns Best, came back to finish fifth.

The Michigan Dept. of Agriculture then ruled the race to be re-run, which took place Thursday, Oct. 4, at Hazel Park. Keyanna Rose came up the winner this time around while Locksweeper finished fourth, earning a check of $9,664 for trainer-driver Dan O’Mara and partner Joe Hess instead of the $60,275 she earned the first time the race had been raced. Engamer Benns Best finished sixth and did not earn a check.

“According to the rules, in which I cited in my appeal, there is a procedure in that when the starter says ‘go’ and folds the gate, that’s a race,” Hess explained to harnessracing.com Wednesday afternoon. “So if that’s a race, and (the starter) did that in this race, how can you declare it ‘no contest?’

“I know the Michigan Racing Commission has the right to call a race a ‘no contest,’ but I am arguing on the grounds that a ‘no contest’ is in their rules because it is used to protect the betting public. But I have never seen it apply to a situation asking for a second race. There is no precedent for a second race that I’ve been able to research.

“This is a precedent-setting decision because if it stands you now have a situation where if something happens during a race you can cite this case as previous settlement.”

Hess said he is currently awaiting a phone call from the Office of Michigan Racing Commissioner to schedule a hearing on the matter. “I appealed and they have upheld my appeal to be processed," said Hess, who lives in New Milford, N.J. "We are going to the second step and they have stopped payment of the checks for the race-off until the appeal is resolved.”

Hess said he appealed the decision prior to the re-race in the hopes that the race was postponed.

“I appealed it before the second race and they should have either denied the appeal or if they upheld the appeal then they should not have raced,” said Hess. “It should have been postponed until they did one or another.

“People said to me I finished fourth in the race-off like I should be happy with that…and accept that, but I’m not very willing at this point to accept that,” he added.

Although Locksweeper had to settle for a fourth-place finish in her second attempt, she bounced back with a bang in her next start that came Tuesday night at Colonial Downs. With O’Mara in the sulky, Locksweeper posted a track record 1:54.3 victory in a conditioned event—which is also a world record for her division on a greater-than-one-mile racetrack—the fourth fastest mile ever by a freshman filly trotter.  

“She was super last night,” said Hess. “That’s the first time she’d been on a big track. We wanted to test her speed and see if she had enough speed.”

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