By Bill Finley
Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, jockey Luan Machado appeared to misjudge the finish line in Wednesday's eighth race at Keeneland, costing his mount Ultimate Strike (Mineshaft) the win in the maiden claimer.
Depending on the distance of its races, Keeneland uses two finish lines and in this mile-and-a-sixteenth dirt race, the race was to end at the second of the two finish lines. Ultimate Strike took command on the far turn and was, according to track announcer Kurt Becker, five lengths in front at the sixteenth pole or the first finish line. That's when Machado wrapped up on his mount.
The move took Becker by surprise.
“It is Ultimate Strike,” Becker said before pausing and resuming the call. “They come to the wire. Here's a final run and Gotta Have Dreams gets up. Gotta Have Dreams gets there.”
“Ultimate Strike stalked three wide, bid with three furlongs to go, took over and opened up for home, but began to ease up when the rider stood passing the sixteenth pole and was nailed by an outer bidder at the wire,” read the footnote to the Equibase chart.
(7) Gotta Have Dreams wins the final race of the day for @James_D_Graham. (9) Ultimate Strike is second, (10) Rocket Night takes third. pic.twitter.com/uYVXbIXTqP
— Keeneland Racing (@keenelandracing) October 16, 2024
“I have not spoken to him, but it's that they have two wires at Keeneland and I think he just made an honest mistake,” said Machado's agent Cory Prewitt. “It was just a bad deal. I'm 100 percent sure of what happened, but it is what is. We all make mistakes.”
Ultimate Strike went off at 13-1. Machado's apparent mistake meant that the winner was Gotta Have Dreams (Creative Cause), who was 19-1.
Ultimate Strike is trained by Carlos Santamaria, who went into the race with a record of 1-for-60 on the year.
Machado is the regular rider of marathon specialist Next (Not This Time), who will likely make his next start in the Breeders' Cup.
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