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Moro Flyboy said show me that whip one more time, and I’ll show you the rail.
It was a jaw-dropping scene at Lone Star Park in Texas Friday. At the end of the night’s first race, Moro Flyboy, running the second race of his career, had a clear lead on the field.
Apprentice jockey Simon Camacho-Benitez was alternating whip hands. He shifted to the right hand as they came down the stretch, and Moro Flyboy said, ‘no, you fly boy.’
After catching the whip, the 4-year-old gelding turned sharply toward the rail, sending Camacho-Benitez’s head over the blue silk hat and turning sure victory into sudden defeat.
The announcer was appropriately shocked. Here was the call:
“He might lead by double digits. Heavenly Trump is gonna be second…oh, Moro Flyboy hits the rail and unseated the rider and Heavenly Trump is going to inherit the win here.”
Trump steals a win. Where have I heard that before?
Heavenly Trump steals win at Lone Star Park
The first race at Lone Star Park was a maiden claiming race for three-year-olds and up bred in Texas. It had eight horses and went off at 6:35 p.m. with temperatures near 100. Maybe Moro Flyboy wanted to get in the shade.
Wearing No. 1, the horse trained by Austin Gustafson was the class of the field, even though he was listed at 6-1 odds. The race was five and a half furlongs.
The purse was $13,000, not bad for a Friday night at Lone Star Park. Neither is 6-1 odds to win. Heavenly Trump paid $6.40 in victory. Officially, Moro Flyboy finished seventh.
The ultimate shoe throw at Lone Star Park
Horse racing and Texas sports betting’s most famous he-won-he-lost moment was the 1957 Kentucky Derby when Hall of Fame jockey Bill Shoemaker mistakenly rose in the saddle at the wrong pole riding Gallant Man at Churchill Downs.
Shoemaker quickly realized his error and sank back down, but the bobble was enough to let Iron Liege take the lead and win at the wire.
Gallant Man would skip the Preakness, come back and win the Belmont in a then-American record 2:26 3/5. That record would stand until Secretariat came along in 1973. The good news is Moro Flyboy was not hurt.
Camacho-Benitez was said to have ed a concussion test, and he raced twice more Friday night on Helluva Life (30-1) in the seventh race and Cobra Casablanca (12-1) in the eighth race. Neither finished in the money.
His agent told the Daily Racing Form that Camacho-Benitez would ride again at Lone Star next week. Camacho-Benitez has made 89 career starts, most at Sam Houston Park in Houston. He hasn’t carried a mount to the winner’s circle since May 27.
He didn’t win Friday night either, just flipped over by a horse who was rubbed the wrong way.
