Monmouth Park stewards handed Umberto Rispoli a one-day suspension and levied a $6,000 fine Tuesday, citing the jockey for striking Journalism eight times, two more than the maximum allowed under a Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority rule, during the stretch run of the Haskell Stakes on Saturday. Journalism got up to win by a half-length.
Rispoli’s agent, Matt Nakatani, said Rispoli was waiving his right of appeal and planned to serve the suspension on Aug. 1. The following day, Aug. 2, Rispoli, in the midst of a career year, goes to Saratoga to ride top middle distance turf horse Johannes in the Fourstardave, Look Forward in the Test, and Juwelier in the Saratoga Derby.
Journalism and Rispoli have gone through an adventuresome campaign, capped by the Preakness Stakes, when Rispoli attempted to guide his mount between rivals in upper stretch but found his path blocked by Flavien Prat and Goal Oriented, the two colts exchanging hard bumps, Goal Oriented nearly going off stride for a moment.
Neither Rispoli nor Prat was sanctioned for the Preakness. In the Santa Anita Derby, Rispoli and Journalism got hemmed in along the rail at the half-mile pole and into the far turn, eventually getting outside and up to win.
Journalism, heavily favored in the Haskell, his Preakness win sandwiched between second-place finishes to Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont, had to work hard as he leveled off into Monmouth’s short homestretch, eventually wearing down Gosger and Goal Oriented, the two horses in front of him at the three-sixteenths pole. Journalism earned $600,000 for winning, resulting in a $60,000 payday for Rispoli.
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