Victor Espinoza
The New York State Gaming Commission saddled beaten Triple Crown champion American Pharoah’s jockey Victor Espinoza with a ‘Monster’ of a fine earlier this week.
Espinoza, according to the organization’s website, violated Rule 4041.6 for “wearing of advertising without permission and wearing promotional material without permission, after having been specifically instructed not to do so by the stewards.”
The Commission fined him $15,000 for donning Monster Energy’s logo on his boots and his last name on his pants during the Gr1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga.
“This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen in the 20 some years I’ve been riding all over the world,” Espinoza, 43, told PaulickReport.com. “I have my name on the side and back of my pants like a lot of riders. It’s exactly what I wore in the Haskell (at Monmouth Park in New Jersey). How can I make money on my name?”
According to the Daily Racing Form, Espinoza was instructed not to wear promotional material just before Saturday’s race.
“I am really shocked,” the rider said. “I had no idea, no clue” until then.
The Triple Crown-winning jockey found out about the fine Monday via an online report.
Connections of American Pharoah signed their deal with Monster Energy before the Belmont Stakes, also in New York. It was believed to be one of the largest horse racing-related endorsements ever.
Sad Saturday
The penalty just added to a forgettable Saturday where trainer Dale Romans’ Curlin colt Keen Ice beat the Triple Crown champion in front of a 50 000 crowd in the 146th running of the Travers, for three-year-old colts – a race they call the ‘Midsummer Derby’ and the centerpiece of the Saratoga meet.
A 16-1 shot who had not won for Donegal Racing since breaking his maiden last September, Keen Ice was on an eight-race losing streak while American Pharoah had not lost during the span.
But the maiden winner had been creeping closer and closer to the champ. He ran third behind him in the Gr1 Belmont Stakes and second last time out in the Gr1 William Hill Haskell Invitational after a seventh in the Kentucky Derby.
And when American Pharoah tried to take the 2000m Travers on the front end with pressure from Frosted all the way, it was Keen Ice who moved up from a stalking third to win with a furious late charge.
