N.Y. investigating complaint against Travers winner

Jennie Rees | USA TODAY Sports

The New York State Gaming Commission is investigating a complaint into the running of the $1 million Travers Stakes, which the D. Wayne Lukas-trained Will Take Charge won by a nose over Moreno.

Spokesman Lee Park confirmed that gaming commission is looking into a complaint lodged by the connections of Moreno into the running of the race.

"We have received a complaint that we are thoroughly investigating," he said, "and we have sought the assistance of the New York State Police, which has expertise in video analysis…. I cannot confirm what came with the complaint. However, I can confirm … that we do have more than one video of the race that's being reviewed."

Daily Racing Form reported that Moreno's connections allege that Will Take Charge's jockey, Luis Saez, used an electrical device – in racing parlance known as a "machine," "battery" or "buzzer" – during the race. Such devices, whose purpose is to stimulate a horse to run faster, are banned at racetracks.

Saez, who is from Panama, is not fluent in English. His agent, former Louisvillian Richard De Pass, angrily denied any such charge. He said they will fight the allegation "to the bitter end" and vowed to follow up with a defamation of character lawsuit.

De Pass, said Saez told him that security searched his locker in the Saratoga jockeys' room Saturday morning.

Eric Guillot, Moreno's trainer, told The Courier-Journal Saturday morning that he could not comment, having promised the New York stewards and gaming commission that he would not speak to the press at this time.

He later was quoted by the New York Daily News as saying, "I brought them (officials) the video. I showed it to 100 people, ain't been one person to deny it yet. You see a blurry, black device go from the right hand to the left hand and then he drops it."

Daily Racing Form reported that Gaming Commission steward Carmine Donofrio confirmed that the stewards asked NBC, which broadcast the race, for a tape but declined further comment.

De Pass, speaking by phone from Florida, repeated in two conversations with The Courier-Journal that he had watched the race video, frame by frame, and that it is "impossible" that the jockey had anything other than a whip in his hands.

"I've watched the film, and it's impossible for him to have a machine," said De Pass, who left Saratoga after the last day that entries were taken to spend a few days with his daughter before Belmont opens. "Listen to me, at the five-sixteenths (pole), he's pounding on him right-handed… He switches sticks down the lane quickly. It's impossible for him to have anything in both hands. I challenge you to try to do that on a chair with the reins."

He also said, "When he's galloping out, the one hand that doesn't have the whip is stretched out. It's impossible to have your hand on the reins and a machine… The hand that's loose is totally stretched out, with the reins at the end of his fingers.

"We're going to fight this to the bitter end. This is B.S…. It's the same thing like when they said (Jose) Santos had a machine on Funny Cide. ... Of all the people they could accuse, this kid? Are you for real? But the guy who started it is Eric Guillot, and Eric Guillot said (the morning after the Travers) Wayne Lukas is washed up, finished. He just won the Preakness. How many has (Guillot) won? How many Breeders' Cups has he won? What has he ever done? On a Hall of Famer? The guy who changed the game? Come on, man."

Retired Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey, now an NBC racing analyst, looked at the video on the opening segment of NBC Sports Network's broadcast of Saturday's Woodward.

"He still has the reins in his left hand," he said, watching a slow-motion view of the gallop-out. "Now, as he grabs both the whip and the reins with the right hand, you can see his left hand open up. As we close in on there, nothing dropping from it. So short of having it stapled, or crazy-glued to the palm of his hand, I don't see any evidence at all that this boy had anything other the whip and the reins in his hand."

Over the years there have been some high-profile suggestions of electrical devices being used. Speculation that Gary Stevens handed one to Pat Day while galloping out after winning the 1995 Derby aboard Thunder Gulch proved to be only a shadow cast while they were slapping hands. The Miami Herald famously gaffed in a story implying that Jose Santos had a machine in his hand while winning the 2003 Derby aboard Funny Cide, which blown-up photos showed was an illusion caused by either a shadow or the silks of the runner-up.

But Billy Patin did serve a five-year suspension when such a device was found on the Oaklawn racetrack after he won the 1999 Arkansas Derby on 30-1 Valhol.

"It's a shame somebody is accusing this kid," De Pass said. "He's a very quiet, humble kid… He's almost like the perfect kid. He doesn't drink, doesn't smoke. I never hear him cuss, never says anything bad about anybody. He's the most unbelievable kid. This is really messed up."

Jennie Rees also writes for The (Louisville) Courier-Journal