I am impressed with Russell Baze for stepping up and taking responsibility for his actions. This is what happened:
Baze, aboard heavy favorite Imperial Eyes, was seven lengths clear of the nearest rival when his horse bobbled at the sixteenths pole. He began to pull up the Cee’s Tizzy gelding, then continued to ride when it appeared his mount had regrouped and was running on. However, Imperial Eyes broke down in the shadow of the wire as Baze hit him twice with the whip and as he was being overtaken by eventual winner Hold the Peace. Imperial Eyes, who finished second, was vanned off the racetrack and later euthanized at trainer Art Sherman’s barn. After review, Baze was given 11 days suspension. This is what he said when asked if he would appeal:
“I’m not going to try to defend what I did,” Baze said on Sunday. “There’s no way to defend it. I made a bad decision in the heat of the moment and I’m truly sorry. I’ll take the punishment that was handed to me. Hopefully, this will not be the defining moment of my career. "Hopefully, I’ll be judged by the right decisions I made in the past and the right ones I’ll make in the future. In these days of athletes making public apologies, they can sound hollow but I want everyone to know how much I mean it. Nobody knows how contrite I am in my heart.”
