Owner of Lost Code Appeals Pimlico Special

Don Levinson, the owner of Lost Code, the second-place finisher in last Saturday’s roughly run $500,000 Pimlico Special, is appealing the outcome of the race to the Maryland Racing Commission.

After losing to Bet Twice by three-quarters of a length following three bumping incidents through the stretch run, Pat Day, Lost Code’s jockey, lodged a foul claim against the winner. Seven minutes later, Pimlico’s three stewards ruled that there hadn’t been enough interference to change the result.

It is unusual for an owner to appeal a stewards’ decision, and more rare for a racing commission to reverse a decision. Veteran Maryland racing observers can recall only two stewards’ reversals in the last 25 years, neither of them in a stakes race.

Levinson was a member of the racing commission in 1980, when the body listened to three days of testimony before allowing Codex’s victory in the Preakness to stand. The stewards disallowed a claim by Genuine Risk’s jockey, Jacinto Vasquez, that his filly had been carried out in the stretch, and her owners unsuccessfully appealed the decision to the commission.

Bill Donovan, Lost Code’s trainer, was reportedly not in favor of Levinson’s appeal. Donovan said after the Special that he wouldn’t want to win a big race on a foul.

Day was surprised that the stewards didn’t flash their “inquiry” sign immediately after the race and then was disappointed that they disallowed his foul claim.

Day contended that his horse lost momentum when Bet Twice, on the inside, began drifting out toward the middle of the track in the stretch.

Not unexpectedly, Bob Levy, who manages Bet Twice for the syndicate that owns the 4-year-old colt, disapproved of Levinson’s appeal.

“I just think this is a terrible slap for a former racing commissioner to make,” Levy said. “I know he has the right to appeal, but it’s a terrible slap. Racing gets enough criticism, and I myself wouldn’t do anything that would dignify that criticism.”

The commission is likely to consider Levinson’s appeal in late June. Levy said that his trainer, Jimmy Croll, and his jockey, Craig Perret, wouldn’t attend a hearing unless they were subpoenaed, but said that his attorney would be present to represent Bet Twice’s interests.

Bet Twice earned $425,000 for first place, which included a $100,000 bonus because he was nominated for the Triple Crown races in 1987. Lost Code, whose second-place payoff was $100,000, was not eligible for the bonus and would have earned $325,000 had he won.

The slam-bang finish produced a number of opinions in racing circles.

“I was surprised that the stewards didn’t hang the inquiry sign right away,” said Keene Daingerfield, a veteran Kentucky steward and considered one of the deans of racing officials. “They didn’t hang the sign in the 1980 Preakness, either, and I would have thought they would have remembered that on Saturday.

“I was not surprised that Pat Day claimed foul, and not surprised that his claim was disallowed. But they should have called for an inquiry before Day claimed foul. Some stewards think that doing that causes trouble, but actually it shows the public that you’re doing your job, calling for a review before a jockey asks for one.”

Only one of Saturday’s stewards--Clinton Pitts--was a holdover at Pimlico from the Codex-Genuine Risk Preakness.

At Belmont Park, Vic Gilardi, a veteran jockey agent who didn’t have a rider in the Special, said that Bet Twice’s drifting and contact with Lost Code were enough cause for a disqualification.

“Stewards don’t have any guts anymore,” Gilardi said. “I don’t know what’s wrong with them. There wasn’t any question about this foul. A guy like Keene Daingerfield would have called it right away, no matter how big the race.”

Daingerfield was one of the Keeneland stewards last year when Alysheba, after winning the Blue Grass Stakes, was disqualified for interference in the stretch. War was moved up from second place to first.

Dallas Stewart, an assistant trainer at Wayne Lukas’ Belmont barn, thought the stewards had made the right call Saturday.

“There’s usually a little contact in races, and this couldn’t have been that bad,” Stewart said. “Day never had to stop riding. That had to play a big part in the decision.”