Case of mistaken identity discovered at Aqueduct

A case of mistaken identity was discovered at Aqueduct on Saturday. The New

York Racing Association (NYRA) voided the claim for FREE DIP (Fly So Free) after its

Horse Identification Department determined the five-year-old mare was actually

MISS STELLA (Yarrow Brae), who had raced under the wrong name in all 27 of her

starts.

"From the start of her career, Miss Stella had been allowed to race with the

wrong name and pedigree and even her lip tattoo was incorrectly consistent with

the foal papers," said Jim Zito, NYRA's chief horse identifier. "It was a close

call as to whether or not this horse should have run at all. But it was

dedicated follow-up work and this department's system of checks and balances

that has corrected this on-going mistake and prevented its perpetuation."

Gumpster Stable's Free Dip, who ran fifth in the 2ND race, was claimed by

John Campo Jr. for Team West Side Stables for $20,000. Upon discovery of the

mix-up, the claim was voided by the stewards.

Racing as Free Dip, Miss Stella finished third in the Politely S. and Squan

Song S. at Pimlico in 2004, and had been claimed for $25,000 at Laurel Park on

November 23. The real Free Dip is an unraced five-year-old mare by Fly So Free

out of Little Dipper (Thirty Eight Paces). Miss Stella is a five-year-old mare

by Yarrow Brae out of Faster and Farther (Thirty Eight Paces). Both mares were

bred in Maryland by Alan H. Anthony Jr.

NYRA's Horse ID Department employs a system of checks and balances to ensure

that every horse at Aqueduct, Belmont Park and Saratoga is the right horse

entered to compete. In addition to lip tattoos and descriptions on foal papers

-- color, markings and cowlicks -- horses are also identified by "night eyes" or

"chestnuts," which are callous markings on a horse's leg that are as unique to a

horse as fingerprints are to humans.

"Most of the criteria matched up, but there was a slight discrepancy in one

of the cowlicks," Zito said. "This incident happened on the weekend, and

normally, our identifier would have called The Jockey Club as a back-up. The

Jockey Club office was closed, however, so our identifier had the option of

letting the horse run or scratching it.

"While it is unfortunate that the horse ran and was claimed, it was through

the persistence and diligence of the identifier that a follow-up was done and

the error was caught. This horse had run 27 times, mostly in the Mid-Atlantic,

and its true identity not discovered until it came to New York."