In one moment, the cheers for an outstanding performance by an outstanding racehorse turned to tears and feelings of disbelief and horror at Saratoga Race Course.
In front of a full house on Travers Day, the biggest of all days of the summer 40-day meet, tragedy struck during the 39th running of the $485,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes (G1). The brilliantly fast New York Thunder was rolling down the Spa stretch, looking to be the easiest of winners in the seven-furlong race. As the son of Nyquist kept pouring it on, the unthinkable happened.
The colt and jockey Tyler Gaffalione went down after New York Thunder suffered a catastrophic injury to his left front leg. New York Thunder was humanely euthanized on the track near the finish line. Gaffalione was taken to first aid for evaluation and was cleared to ride Aug. 27. He had no remaining mounts Aug. 26.
This incident was the eighth fatality during racing at this meet. Seven horses—two of them on Saturday—sustained catastrophic injuries during racing and one horse died suddenly during a race due to a major cardiovascular event.
Earlier on Saturday, in the fifth race, Nobel, the 9-5 favorite trained by Brendan Walsh, suffered a catastrophic fatal injury to his left front on the gallop out following a fifth-place finish. The 4-year-old Irish-bred colt was a son of Lope de Vega . Gaffallione was the rider.
In the Jerkens, New York Thunder had built a five-length lead at the eighth pole and was widening it as he moved to the final sixteenth.
That is where the horse went down.
Jorge Delgado, 33, who trained New York Thunder for AMO Racing USA, was inconsolable as he left the track, his hands on his head.
The scene was eerily reminiscent of three weeks ago when the filly Maple Leaf Mel broke down on her way to a certain victory in the Test Stakes (G1).
It was just past the finish line where New York Thunder stopped and was tended to by veterinarians and an outrider.
"This was really tough to watch," said trainer Brad Cox, whose Verifying officially finished second behind One In Vermillion, who won the Jerkens.
New York Thunder and Maple Leaf Mel were both 3-year-olds and both came into their races undefeated. New York Thunder had won his first four starts by a combined 23 1/2 lengths. Maple Leaf Mel, trained by Melanie Giddings, had won her first five starts.
After New York Thunder went down, the track went silent, save for wails from the crowd. One in Vermillion completed the race and was awarded the win by 1 3/4 lengths over Verifying. Arabian Lion finished third, but no one really seemed to care.
One in Vermillion, who had been vanned to Saratoga from Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn., by his trainer and exercise rider, Esteban Martinez. The horse is owned by Jonathan Kalman, who bought the horse for $26,000 from the Few Acre Farm consignment to the 2021 Arizona Thoroughbred Breeders Association Fall Mixed Sale. He was bred in California by Richard Barton Enterprises out of the Any Given Saturday mare Given Star.
This was the first graded stakes win for the 54-year-old Martinez but he hardly felt like celebrating. The scene he had just witnessed was devastating.
Martinez returned to the barn area going up the sealed muddy Saratoga track behind One In Vermillion, a son of Army Mule , but he heard no congratulatory yells from what is usually a fired-up Travers Day crowd. Instead, it was an awkward quiet as he walked in front of thousands of people. The victory was hollow.
"I feel bad about this," Martinez said, as he stopped to talk along the fence that follows the apron, across from the sixteenth pole, where New York Thunder went down. "I feel bad about the horse. I feel bad about the rider. I knew that horse (New York Thunder) was going to be tough. I knew how good he was. I knew how fast he was."
There was no winner's circle ceremony for One in Vermillion, just like there had not been for Pretty Mischievous in the Test after Maple Leaf Mel fell.
"I thought my horse had a chance," Esteban said. "He always tries hard. But, no, I did not feel bad about not going to the winner's circle. I just feel bad."
Irad Ortiz Jr., who rode One in Vermillion—Luis Saez was originally scheduled to ride, but dislocated his collarbone earlier in the week when he was unseated when his horse died—was feeling for the fallen horse, too.
"It's sad," he said. "He was already a winner. You don't want to win a grade 1 this way. I'm speechless. Nothing you can say about it. It's so sad for everybody who loved this horse."
