by Jeff Apel

The fractions and final time for Cool Coal Man’s victory in the $350,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) were adjusted on Monday after Gulfstream Park officials realized an outrider prematurely tripped the track’s timer.

A teletimer malfunction led the 1 1/8-mile race for three-year-old Triple Crown hopefuls to be hand timed, with Cool Coal Man originally credited with earning a half-length win in 1:49.53 on a track rated fast. The winning time was subsequently adjusted to 1:50.07.

The Mineshaft colt’s fractions were also changed to :24.03 for a quarter-mile, :47.62 for a half-mile, 1:11.52 for six furlongs, and 1:36.32 for one mile. The race’s original fractions were :23.56, :46.93, 1:10.80, and 1:37.

“I looked at it three times, hand timing it each time, and those are the fractions and final that we keep coming up with,” Gulfstream Operations Manager Bernie Hettel said. “As this was hand-timed, there may be some incremental differences from clocker to clocker, but we are satisfied with what we have found.”

The outrider who inadvertently tripped the timer was positioned approximately 20 feet in front of the starting gate.

“Those things are pretty darn rare,” Equibase Vice President of Track and Field Chuck Scaravilli said. “The timing systems are pretty darn reliable as far as I’m concerned.
 
“It happens from time to time. But not very often.”

Scaravilli said the original teletimer clocking for the opening quarter was :25.78—a time he called “very slow.” That led to the race being hand timed, which produced the original set of fractions and final clocking.

Even then, Scaravilli said there were questions about the fractions, which led to another review of the race.

“It didn’t make sense,” Scaravilli said. “That’s why we went ahead and retimed it again.”

Jeff Apel is a Thorougbred Times assistant daily news editor