Jeremy Rose at Belmont (Sarah K. Andrew)

First off, what a day! I was away from a computer until just an hour ago… I missed quite the news filled afternoon!

In our last poll, Personal Ensign was the overwhelming favorite filly 1988 getting 20 votes, while 14 of you said that you love both Personal Ensign and Winning Colors equally and 7 of you, myself included, said Winning Colors was your favorite. I love them both but Winning Colors’ Santa Anita Derby is what made my decision.

Our current poll asks if what you make of Jeremy Rose’s suspension… is it too much, not enough or just right?

To aid you in your decision, I present this head on race replay (hat tip to partymanners for posting and Jen at Thoroughblog). The incident happens at the 1:00 mark, they’re on the rail. Be warned, you might not want to watch if you’re easily upset or squeamish:

I also present this from Dan Ilman over at his Formblog. When a poster asked if anyone felt that Rose has become “the whippingboy” for racing needing to clean up it’s act (a fair question), Ilman replied with this:

I’ve been following Delaware this meet, and this isn’t the first time that Rose’s actions have come into question. On May 12, I was co-hosting the New York City OTB program with Peter Rotundo, and we noticed Rose tearing the hide off runner-up Chief Export with 100 yards to go, and no hope of winning the race.

If you go to calracing.com (free registration), and load up the May 12 race at Delaware, you’ll see what I mean. Chief Export is breaking from post two, and is program number three. He breaks slowly, and rushes into a tight spot on the inside turning for home. After checking and angling to the outside, he fails to run down win-machine Spooky Mulder. Rose has no chance to win in late stretch, but still gives Chief Export a good beating on his shoulder.

After the race, we called for his head on live TV, and in the wake of the Eight Belles incident, wondered how in the heck Rose could be allowed to ride in the Preakness later that week. I can understand his frustration over the bad trip, but the horse didn’t deserve the hiding.

At first, when I read the news item, I thought the punishment was enough, but after seeing the head on I’m starting to think perhaps it’s not enough… but what do you think?