Maysville Disqualified To Second at Pimlico

BALTIMORE, Jan. 8 -- Jockey Luis Garcia hung up the phone in the Pimlico winner's circle Saturday after a brief conversation with the track stewards and turned around to watch a replay of the $50,000 Marshua Stakes on the giant screen in the infield.

The undefeated gray filly, Maysville, dragged Garcia to the lead in her customary style, but as the field galloped home over the sloppy track, an opponent ranged up to her for the first time in her brief career. Maysville crossed the finish line first, but the stewards believed she had herded challenger Rush to Glory, who loomed up on her outside in the stretch and lost by a neck.

Watching the replay, Garcia saw himself whipping hard with his left hand while Maysville veered to her right, into Rush to Glory.

"That was nothing serious there," Garcia said, eyes fixed on the screen. "She just drifted. She was just running hard."

The stewards disagreed, disqualifying Maysville to second. When the winning numbers flipped on the tote board, Garcia clapped his hands together in disgust and headed for the jockey's room. He had come in from Philadelphia for the race and it was his only mount of the day.

Suddenly, Rush to Glory's trainer, Dale Capuano, and owner Donald Mensh of Potomac found themselves switching places with Garcia to get their picture taken.

"Any time you're disqualified, you're unhappy, especially in a stakes race," Capuano said sympathetically. "At the eighth pole, it looked like we were going to run by [Maysville] but she was herding [Rush to Glory] out into the middle of the track. It looked like she would run by her. She had the momentum."

Bettors couldn't have been pleased, having hammered Maysville down to odds of 7-5, while letting Rush to Glory go at 6-1. Maysville crossed the finish line in the six-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies in 1 minute 12.53 seconds.

Rush to Glory, with seven races under her going in to the Marshua -- no other runner in the field of six had been out more than twice -- won her first stakes race in three tries.

Capuano and Mensh don't see a superstar in the making in the filly, who they purchased for $43,000 at a 2-year-olds in training sale last March in Texas, just a hard-trying runner who has already earned $99,155 for them.

"These aren't stakes horses, just high-level claimers," Capuano said. "We'll run her for a [$50,000 claiming tag] in New York."

Rush to Glory's jockey, Taylor Hole, 33, trying to make it in Maryland after years riding in New England, was happy to get his first stakes victory in the state -- no matter how it came.

"Considering I came [to Maryland] without any outfits to ride for, we're not discouraged," said Hole, dressing quickly because he was riding at night at Charles Town. "To get on six or seven horses a day in one of the best [jockey] colonies in the country, it's not bad."

-- John Scheinman