Mage on Saturday won the 149th Kentucky Derby, and one columnist believes the colt deserves an asterisk for the win.
WDRB columnist Rick Bozich published a story after Mage won the race that focused on Forte’s scratch.
Forte, a successful colt that had won six of the seven races in which he entered, was the favorite to win the derby. But the 3-year-old was scratched early Saturday after the Kentucky state veterinarian would not clear Forte to race due to a bruise on his front leg.
Forte’s owner had three vets look at the horse and all three thought he was OK to race. But the lone opinion that mattered came from Dr. Nick Smith, the chief veterinarian of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, who would not clear Forte.
Bozich further criticized the Kentucky commission for not speaking with the media about their decision.
Not only had Forte won six of his seven starts, but he beat Mage in two races at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, Florida leading up to the Kentucky Derby.
In the end, any talk of an asterisk is more for historic analysis rather than for serious record-keeping. Does anyone actually think the Houston Rockets should have an asterisk for winning the NBA championships in 1994 and 1995? No, but people remember that the Rockets won it the two years when Michael Jordan was playing baseball.
Mage goes down in the books as the winner, but to horse racing fans, the field may have been incomplete due to the absence of the favorite.
