Besides Jose Santos' whip, Derby officials are wondering what other 'suspicious' object he was holding as he crossed the finish line.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Stewards were looking into questions raised about winning Kentucky Derby jockey Jose Santos, who is shown in a photo possibly carrying something in his hand besides his whip as he crossed the finish line aboard Funny Cide.
Churchill Downs stewards scheduled a meeting for Saturday and another one for Tuesday, which will include Santos, Funny Cide owner Jack Knowlton told The Associated Press. One steward called the photo "very suspicious.''
Knowlton said any accusations that Santos might have used an illegal aid to win the race are "just absolutely, totally ridiculous.''
Kentucky Racing Commission rules do not prohibit a jockey from holding an object with his whip, other than those specifically prohibited, such as an electrical device that might make the horse run faster. It was not immediately clear what Santos might have been holding in addition to his whip.
The questions were raised after The Miami Herald published a story about the jockey, along with the photo.
"There's absolutely, positively not one iota to this and we're very, very disappointed that an individual can take the luster off what we all consider to be a great victory,'' said Knowlton, speaking by phone from the horse's barn at Belmont Park in New York.
Knowlton said he would attend the meeting Tuesday even though he plans to take Funny Cide to Baltimore to get ready for next Saturday's Preakness. The stewards -- Bernie Hettel, Rick Leigh and Jack Middleton -- have ultimate authority over a race's results.
The photo, which ran in several newspapers the morning after the race, depicts a dark area in the space between Santos' right hand and his whip.
Santos told the Herald on Friday he carried an object in his hand during the race and described it as a "'cue' ring to call the outriders.''
"Why do you want to write about this negative (stuff)?'' Santos said before he hung up the phone at Belmont Park, the Herald reported.
Santos said he was carrying the ring to alert an outrider to his presence. An outrider is a rider aboard a pony that can guide a thoroughbred before and after the race.
However, Santos told the Daily Racing Form on Saturday from Belmont that the Herald misunderstood and that it was a "Q-ray'' bracelet that he regularly wears for arthritis. The jockey is from Chile and speaks English with a heavy accent.
Knowlton told the AP that the owners spoke to Santos at the barn Saturday morning.
"He had a bracelet on his arm. He always wears it, and that's what we have here,'' he said.
However, Santos appears to be wearing a bracelet on his left wrist in the photo, not his right. The Racing Form story did not address what Santos might have had in his right hand besides his whip.
Hettel and Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith told the Herald they have never heard of a cue ring.
Leigh told the newspaper the photograph looks "very suspicious.''
It is unclear whether the dark image in Santos' hand is a shadow, the light green background of the silks worn by the jockey behind him or something illegal. Other photos show Santos firmly grasping the whip with his whole hand after crossing the finish line, the Herald said.
Getty Images photographer Jamie Squire said he magnified his picture to examine it more closely. He added that he was able to "definitely see something in his hand besides the whip.''
Brandon Lopez, an editor at Getty, told the Herald the photograph was not altered.
When asked if riders are permitted to carry anything other than a whip, Hettel told the newspaper: "Why would they want to? It's the biggest race of the year. You have enough to do with the whip and the reins that there is no reason to carry anything else.''
Santos was voted an Eclipse Award in 1988 as the nation's outstanding jockey and was the leading rider in purse earnings from 1986 to '89. This was his first Kentucky Derby victory.
"It's an unneeded distraction,'' Knowlton told the AP. "We're trying to get the horse and all the horse's connections ready for the second leg of the Triple Crown.''
http://espn.go.com/horse/triplecrown03/s/2003/0510/1551865.html
