'Uptown' DQ nearly causes bet fiasco

Ray Kerrison

The New York Racing Association nar rowly escaped an historic betting fiasco in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday when the well-bet sentimental favorite Uptowncharlybrown lost a lead pad during the running of the race.

The stewards disqualified him from fifth and placed him last, costing his 59 owners the fifth prize money of $30,000.

But only half a length -- a sliver of a second -- separated Uptowncharlybrown from springing the biggest classic booboo since Dancer's Image was disqualified in a drug controversy after winning the 1968 Kentucky Derby.

As it turned out, the lead-pad incident did not disturb one cent of betting. But it went too close for comfort.

Consider: If Uptowncharlybrown had won the Belmont (he lost it only by three lengths), the stewards would have had to disqualify him and all holy hell would have broken loose, the consequences of which are scary to contemplate.

In an incident without parallel in Triple Crown racing, an eight-pound lead pad Charly was carrying beneath the saddle and jockey Rajiv Maragh somehow flew loose at the seven-furlong pole and landed somewhere on the track -- or in the next county.

That meant that Uptowncharlybrown ran the last five furlongs of the Belmont carrying just 118 pounds, or eight pounds shy of the 126 pounds allotted to every runner.

If he had finished first, second, third or fourth, his disqualification would have created havoc in all exacta, trifecta and superfecta payoffs. Imagine the fury of bettors who would have come out on the short end.

Luckily for NYRA and all horseplayers, Uptowncharlybrown finished fifth, but just a half a length behind the fourth finisher, Game On Dude. Still, it was a close call. Uptowncharlybrown ran third and fourth through nearly the whole race. At the furlong pole, he still was fourth. It was only in the last stages that he fell behind Game On Dude.

Hopefully (but don't bank on it) the stewards this week will launch an inquiry into what happened. In the absence of an early explanation, the incident suggests serious negligence or carelessness by those who saddled the horse, not to mention the harm that could have befallen Maragh.

Someone appears to have messed up and, but for the grace of a fifth-place finish, it could have set off something like a riot.

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Let's hear it for Jerry Brown, the speed chart proprietor of Thoro-Graph, who surveyed the Belmont field for Post readers last Tuesday and told them: eliminate the favorites, shop the long shots.

Brown and most chart readers are usually wary of horses coming back to the races after producing their fastest efforts. He concluded that Ice Box's dramatic, hard-fought second in the Kentucky Derby, First Dude's gut-busting second in the Preakness and Fly Down's career best in the Dwyer might drain their resources and lead them to bounce, or digress.

As it happened, Fly Down ran second at 5-1 and First Dude third at 5-1, but only after walking through the slowest Belmont in 15 years, getting the six furlongs in 1:14.9 and the mile in 1:40.25. Even so, they could not hold off the late charge of 13-1 Drosselmeyer.

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Our retired colleague, Tom (the Bomb) Valledolmo, hit again. After advising friends to bet Super Saver in the Kentucky Derby, he e-mailed Lookin At Lucky as his Preakness special, then topped it with Drosselmeyer in the Belmont. From now on, call him Triple Crown Tom.