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All charges were dropped against former New York Racing Association Clerks of Scales Braulio Baeza and Mario Sclafani yesterday at the Saratoga County Court in Ballston Spa.
Baeza who rode Roberto to win the 1st Benson and Hedges International and Sclafani were alleged to have conspired 67 times with several leading jockeys to allow them to ride overweight-buy sometimes as much as 15lbs.
I met Baeza for the 1st time this year and he’s a lovely man whose life has been ruined for the last 3 years.
Thanks for that snippet Pengamon. Wasn’t aware that BB was in deep sh@t.
Gave Roberto a truly inspired ride and imo gave The Brigadier a fair and square beating; didn;t believe all that codswallop about Brigadier Gerard being out-of-sorts or unable to go left-handed.
Good luck to Baeza.I agree – that was an inspired ride by Baeza at York. I rate that race as one of the greatest I have seen. I am not sure any horse would have beaten the Roberto/Baeza combination that day. I haven’t seen the race on video/TV for years. Does anyone know where I might find it?
Don’t think anyone ever did make excuses for the Brigadier. People just wondered how Roberto managed to perform to that level. A bee sting was the theory at the time. Maybe it was just BB’s riding though..
I agree – that was an inspired ride by Baeza at York. I rate that race as one of the greatest I have seen. I am not sure any horse would have beaten the Roberto/Baeza combination that day. I haven’t seen the race on video/TV for years. Does anyone know where I might find it?
I’m afraid I can’t help you there and i’m actually on a hunt for a photo for BB himself who has never had a photo of the victory.
Per Zorro:-
Don’t think anyone ever did make excuses for the Brigadier. People just wondered how Roberto managed to perform to that level. A bee sting was the theory at the time. Maybe it was just BB’s riding though..
I seem to recall some excuse being made a day or two after the race that Brigadier Gerard’s blood count wasn’t right when he got homeor something like that. (Have got books that would confirm/disprove that but am currently half-bladdered and have to get up early tomorrow so can’t confirm that just now.) Hic…
The first defeat / first time left-handed nonsense was uttered by various apologists at the time who just couldn’t take on board the fact that, on his day, Roberto was the dogs-boll@c]s and as good a 10f as any of his contempories.
…but once some bugg@r puts a thought in your head, you can’t sleep until you’ve followed it up. Particularly when, at my age, you start wondering if you’re showing the first signs of Alzheimer’s!
Racehorses of 1972 “…and we are drawn to the conclusion that Brigadier Gerard ran below his best at York”
The Brigadier” by John Hislop. “…when he got back to the stables at York after the race, and put his head down, a large clot of mucus came out of one of his nostrils. This could well have impaired his breathing perceptibly and, in a race of this tempo, made the difference between winning and losing.”
Although, to be fair to John Hislop, he does write before that, quite unequivocally that “There was no excuse”. But he then goes on to add that, in the parade ring prior to the race Geoff Lewis remarked to Ian Balding “… The Brigadier doesn’t seem himself to me; he looks worried. You’ll see him get beaten today.” Compare that with the comment in the Timeform Annual that “…He looked magnificent, as well as we had ever seen him…”
People crib Roberto because he chucked in the odd disappointing performance, but when he was “on-blob”, boy was he on blob. Brilliance and consistency don’t always go hand-in-hand.They have a few photos of him here:
http://www.mediastorehouse.com/pics_1532/Racing-Legends.html
Page 2 is the first one.Insomniac said: "Brilliance and consistency don’t always go hand-in-hand."
Agree – but to be consistently brilliant is the mark of a true champion: e.g. Brigadier Gerard.
I believe Baeza rode an outstanding and inspired ride on Roberto that day, and caught Joe Mercer on the hop. Also, we musn’t forget that Brigadier Gerard had a hard race some three weeks previously when winning the King George & Queen Elizabeth at Ascot, and that Rheingold, just beaten by Roberto in the Derby, and who would go on to win the Arc the following season, was also put to the sword,
It was interesting to note that Roberto’s trainer, Vincent O’Brien later chose to avoid a re-match with with "The Brigadier" in the Champion Stakes at Newmarket; though he did take the horse to France, where he was soundly thrashed by San San and a few others in that season’s Arc.
A freak result at York? Probably not.
Roberto a better racehorse than Brigadier Gerard? Definitely not!Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
Pengammon
In Racehorses of 1972, there is a picture of Roberto beating an eased Brigadier Gerard at York. In the front of the annual it says the copyright of the photo is owned by the ‘Provincial Press Agency’
Whether they are still going today in that or a different guise, I wouldn’t have a clue.
There would be very little fuss if Roberto beat the Brigadier today because we’re better informed and now realise the extent of the front-running bias at York.
Baeza rode Mercer to sleep on the day.
For anyone interested, I have just come across video footage on YouTube of the closing stages of the ’72 Benson & Hedges Gold Cup.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNsATgJA50g
It’s worth a look. I still regard this as one of the greatest performances by a racehorse that I have seen.
Don’t think anyone ever did make excuses for the Brigadier. People just wondered how Roberto managed to perform to that level. A bee sting was the theory at the time. Maybe it was just BB’s riding though..
American jockeys are good, and could well have been a lot better than the European jockeys at the time.
Remember how well Bill Shoemaker did on his few visits to Europe (second in the Derby on Hawaiian Sound, big priced winners at Epsom, Ascot and the Curragh). Steve Cauthen taught European jockeys a thing or two about pace (actually he probably introduced them to it), Cash Asmussen was style personified and Gary Stevens was well on his way to the top of the European tree when he surprisingly went home after only a couple of months.
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There would be very little fuss if Roberto beat the Brigadier today because we’re better informed and now realise the extent of the front-running bias at York.
Baeza rode Mercer to sleep on the day.
Never thought I’d see ‘better informed’ and ‘front-running bias at York’ together in a coherent sentence, until today.
Maurice
1)
When two horses are racing over the identical strip of ground, the only possible advantage it can convey on one horse is that his opponent has to deviate to get round him, or has to face his kickback, neither of which was ever an issue in this race as the principals were never close enough together at any time after the first 100 yards.2)
Roberto, and the ride he was given on that day, would have beaten Brigadier Gerard by a similar margin on any grade1 British 10f track, on similar ground.3)
There is no ‘front running bias’ at York.
It is a myth, probably owed to the fact that, for a number of years, there was a strip of ground by the inside rail at York, known as the ‘jogger’s path’ that was more compacted than the rest and gave an advantage to any horse that ran over it – where-ever they were in the race – and perpetuated by a number of racing channel pundits….who’d like us to think they’re better informed.
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