Chantal Sutherland recently was on the receiving end of a backlash of criticism on horse racing social media for two separate incidents. The first involved a horse she rode named Barbara who decided to bear out turning for home leaving Chantal with nothing to say or do about it. The second incident was the result of a comment Chantal Sutherland made on a racing podcast where she talked about giving Tyler Gaffalione room to get out when his mount was loaded and hers was finished.
Instead of discussing the two incidents here we’ll let Chantal and the show do the talking. We will say the backlash directed at her was hard, and we think she was most courteous to come on Past the Wire TV and set the record straight. Jonathan Stettin will offer his perspective as a long time professional player and handicapper and Jeff Metz will offer his as a trainer and horseman.
The following is courtesy of the Daily Racing Form chart on the Barbara race from Gulfstream Park:
BARBARA set the pace for six furlongs in the two-path, bore out badly carrying out MIA CAMILA coming off the far turn, and ran on near the outside rail to hold the show spot. MIA CAMILA got bumped by SCHOOL DANCE at the start, raced four wide to the far turn, got carried out to near the outside rail by BARBARA at the top of the stretch, and was cautiously handled near that rival after straightening away.
FOLLOWING A STEWARDS INQUIRY, BARBARA WAS DISQUALIFIED FROM THIRD POSITION AND PLACED FOURTH BEHIND MIA CAMILA FOR INTERFERENCE LEAVING THE FAR TURN AND INTO THE STRETCH.
This is the original show on Horse racing Radar TV where Chantal first spoke about giving another rider room:
Photo: Gulfstream Park, Coglianese Photos, Ryan Thompson
