Saratoga’s opening weekend this year might be best remembered for the highly unusual disqualification of horses who finished first in graded stakes on consecutive afternoons: the takedowns of Magna Light in the Grade 3 Sanford last Saturday and of I’m a Chatterbox in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks on Sunday.The one in the Oaks was pretty straightforward. I’m a Chatterbox was on the lead in deep stretch as Curalina was closing in on her. Two strides from the wire, the leader brushed with the oncoming Curalina, making her change leads and become unbalanced for a moment. I’m a Chatterbox held on by a nose but was placed second behind Curalina. It wasn’t a happy decision for I’m a Chatterbox’s connections and parimutuel backers, but it was clearly the correct call.The previous afternoon’s Sanford was a far more complicated affair.In the Sanford, 14-1 Magna Light went to the front, opened a two-length lead with a furlong to go, and was en route to a daylight victory when he ducked out sharply to his right from left-handed urging. The sudden drift to the outside did not impede anyone because he was well clear of his pursuers. When he drifted back in just as sharply nearing the wire, however, it caused Percolator to steady momentarily. Then, Uncle Vinny outfinished Percolator by a half-length for second as Magna Light crossed the wire 1 3/4 lengths ahead of those two.If Percolator had held on for the place, there probably would have been no disqualification, as Magna Light’s veering out and in clearly did not keep him from winning the race. Instead, since Percolator was beaten a short margin for second by Uncle Vinny, there was now a legitimate question of whether Magna Light had cost Percolator second place. It was a close call, but the stewards decided he had, leaving them no choice but to place Magna Light third behind Percolator and making a winner of Uncle Vinny, who may well have been only third-best.Todd Pletcher, who trains both Curalina and Uncle Vinny, said after the Oaks that the two disqualifications were entirely different.“Yesterday,” he said Sunday, referring to the Sanford, “we weren’t bothered. We were the beneficiary of someone else being bothered. In this case [the Oaks], our filly was knocked off stride in a critical point in the race and got beat a couple inches.”Don Lucarelli, one of Uncle Vinny’s owners, also was gracious about being elevated to victory in the Sanford.“I really, really do feel bad for Rudy Rodriguez, Michael Dubb, and all of [Magna Light’s] connections because they really did run a winning race,” he said. “It’s unfortunate to have to win them this way. We ran huge, too, but Magna Light today was a better horse.”A less-generous reaction came from Dubb, Magna Light’s principal owner. He filed an appeal of the stewards’ decision with the New York State Gaming Commission, but not before alleging unfairness directed at Rodriguez, Magna Light’s trainer. Dubb told the media that Rodriguez is “picked on” because he is Mexican.Coming from most other owners, these might be considered merely unsportsmanlike comments made in the heat of the moment. Dubb, however, sits on the board of directors of the New York Racing Association, which operates Saratoga. There is an inherent conflict of interest in sitting on the board of a track and racing your own horses there, a conflict that is permitted to continue throughout racing so as not to deprive tracks of having knowledgeable racing people on their boards. That’s probably the right call, but it puts an extra burden of responsibility on any NYRA board member: You do not attack your own organization or bully its officials with an unwarranted accusation of discrimination when one of your horses has some bad racing luck.By all accounts, Dubb is one of the good guys and the NYRA board’s leading advocate for improved living conditions for backstretch workers, the majority of whom are Hispanic. “I’m not sure the same standards apply to everybody on the racetrack in general, not just in my case,” Dubb told DRF’s David Grening. “I don’t think the living conditions that the Hispanic people live in are good; I don’t think they’re treated that well.”Dubb should be commended for backing up his position by scolding the board to accelerate the construction of improved backstretch housing. That does not, however, excuse his suggestion that these inequities had anything to do with the legitimate, albeit debatable, disqualification of one of his horses.If he honestly believes that the three stewards, including one appointed by NYRA, would disqualify a horse because his trainer is Mexican, he should be demanding their immediate removal. If he doesn’t, he should simply apologize and withdraw his appeal.