Stockton Stewards' Highly Controversial "No Change"

You be the judge: incompetence, criminal negligence, or the right call.

In the seventh race at Stockton today (June 22nd) a horse appeared to break through the gate before the starter sent the field on its way. You can see replay at CalRacing.com with a free subscription.

On track, a number of spectators and bettors were livid at the failure to declare the 4 horse, Classic Delini, a non-starter. The pan view shows Classic Delini popped out of the gate at least a length ahead of all other starters. When this was played on the jumbo-tron in the infield the Stockton crowd groaned in disgust, as it would be improbable that a horse could be that far ahead of the rest of the field without breaking through the gate. Conspiracy theories began circulating immediately.

After watching the replay many times, while the pan view does look suspicious, the head on view is also telling. It appears that all the gates spring at the same time, and that Classic Delini was merely lunging at exactly the moment the gates opened. It does not appear that the horse forced the gate open at all, and the stewards made the right call. Nonetheless, do make your own judgement.