I had the 1A scratched early and I ain't buying it but it's all water under my shorts.

The NYRA.com scratches now show the the MTO 1A as a "late scratch" but I'm not on the turnip wagon yet. I had that horse off my sheets at 11 a.m. If somebody was taking action on the horse before the Belmont windows opened it should have been a refund or tossed to the fave for the P4 and P6.

Turnips are pretty if you can a young female turnip holding lots of moisture.

QP, I am 100% certain the 1A wasn't listed as a scratch on the website till after 1:30pm. Because I was thinking twinspires had lost their marbles so I double checked.

I could be wrong, Ryan. I have been around for 63 years worth of mistakes.

I was the 18-year-old Marine private at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina that ran the colors part-way up a 100-foot flag pole in front of the world and the base commander while the bugler choked on his notes. The flag was upside down. That was in 1966. I figured I was dead meat and on my way to a Naval prison. I was terrified but nothing ever happened after I ran the colors down and placed the proper lanyards into the proper place. And ran the National Ensign up the pole properly.

I found out later that a lot of old NCOs out of Korea and WWII and officers from the same era cut some slack for the dunce private that had 5 months service but was a 17-year-old regular Marine as a volunteer. I was forgiven and laughed about. Nobody in the Marine Corps ever broke my balls over the Flag Folly. Except for everybody in the 6th Marines which was my outfit then but what do almost 1,700 people know?

If I was wrong about the scratch, I recant my rant. I was not destined to become wealthy today anyway.

I can't access the scratches at work, but they definitely mentioned during Talking Horses that they were keeping the MTOs as long as possible given the potential for rain. This included races 5, 7, and 9 as they were the only ones with MTO. The 1A in race 5 is now listed as a late scratch on the NYRA site now, but none of the MTOs in races 7 or 9 are listed as scratches.

I think the reasoning behind the rule regarding late scratches of an entry is in the best interest of the player, but in situations like these it can be frustrating and confusing. Once they started taking money on the card, the remaining part of the entry in race 5 was going to run for purse only, regardless of the turf status.

Does any other state handle the late scratch of an entry in this way?

Years ago as a railrat at Aqueduct or Belmont or Saratoga you could plow the entry as a good runner and a bum. With the parade or gate scratch of your runner you got stuck with the "1" you didn't like regardless of ability if the better half got scratched.