It’s been said that money is the root of all evil., or maybe the original greek saying, For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil,”. When it comes to the racetrack, whether you are betting, training, riding, or working at the concession stand, money is king. People want to make money which is understandable but if they have to step on a few people they will do it. A situation occured a few weeks ago that in my opinion didnt get enough headlines. The best rider on the New York circuit for a while now is Ramon Dominguez. Not only is he the best physically but mentally no one comes close.

He is always in the right spot, always seems to find a hole, he is strong in the stretch when it counts and has enough finesse to guide a headstrong runner wire to wire if need be. He is always talked about when it comes to class but a decision he made a few weeks ago really caught my eye. The Cigar Mile, which is the last Grade I Stakes race run on the NYRA circuit and it carried a purse of $250,000.

For many of the connections it can be a very important race to run in and win and with that the best jockey on the circuit had two calls. One was for Steve Asmussen and HAYNESFIELD, a horse exiting the Breeders’ Cup Classic and a horse he won the Jockey Club Gold Cup two starts earlier. His other mount was for HALF METAL JACKET for trainer Rudy Rodriguez and owned by Michael Dubb, a duo he also rides a lot for. He would have had his choice and he probably would have been on the favorite had he chosen HAYNESFIELD.

However because he had committed to both and rides a lot for both trainers and owners he decided to sit the race out as he didnt feel comfortable abandoning either one. How many riders would do that? How many athletes would do that, give up a chance at good money because he didn’t want to upset the connections. I don’t think you can count those on one hand. HAYNESFIELD finsihed a solid second losing by a just a head with jockey Javier Castellano. Not to take anything away from Castellano, he is a great rider in his own right, but he is not Ramon Dominguez. It just shows no matter how great you are as an athlete you don’t always have to be greedy. Dominguez gave up a shot at $15,000 in his pocket for a minute and a half worth of work so people who have been big supporters of him would not feel like he chose against them. Especially in a race that important. Finally we got a good story in racing, a story where someone made a decision that impacted him negatively but in the end he felt he did the right thing. I’m not sure how many others would have made that decision and I think he should be commended for it.