jockey suspended

After a hearing before the Board of Stewards, jockey Luan Machado was suspended for three days and fined $2,500 for his ride aboard Ultimate Strike (Mineshaft) in Wednesday's eighth race at Keeneland. Keeneland uses two finish lines, one for mile-and-sixteenth races and the other for mile-and-an-eighth races. Ultimate Strike was five lengths in front as he hit the first finish line and was clearly on his way to victory. But Machado apparently believed the race was over at that point and began to pull up his horse prior to the...

John Velazquez, the winningest jockey in the history of Saratoga Race Course, will serve a three-day suspension Aug. 28-30 stemming from the disqualification of his mount from a win in the tenth race there Aug. 16. Velazquez waived his right to an appeal, according to an Aug. 20 stewards' ruling posted on the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) website. The race in which Velazquez got disqualified was an $80,000 optional claiming/allowance turf route. He was aboard the 4.9-1 fourth choice in the betting, Vino Rouge (Vino Rosso), a filly...