https://youtu.be/aDlqPCpW9dE
I see what you saw but I can assure you it is not anything other than the filly was acting like, for lack of a better way to explain it, a total sulky bitch and Kent not appreciating it.
I could break this down frame by frame but just go to 1:23-1:24 on the you tube video or right around there and freeze it. Make sure it freezes with her front feet off the ground. Might take a try or two.
Now she has been running with a rubber type neck the whole way. What I mean by that is she has carried her head a little high which can be uncomfortable for a rider but more so than that, Kent has been trying every trick in the book to give her any help by riding off the rail so as to park the outside horse just a little more and all the while checking to make sure the inside horse does not take that rail away. But while he gets involved past the 3/8ths pole with the outside horse, just before the 1/4 pole, the inside horse takes the rail away. Kent took his eye off the horse behind him for just a second too long and lost the rail. He was dealing with the outside horse. I'm sure that pissed Kent off, at himself as much as anything.
But back to 1:23 seconds. If you freeze it, you can see that his mount has thrown her head up and in doing so dropped the bit completely. So lets, stop there for a second.
If you are a super competitive person, and knowing Kent for years back when he was in Maryland, trust me, he is, and if you have a temper, and trust me he does, and you are an emotional person, and he is, and you are riding a filly that you probably would not get along with on a good day anyway, and she pulls that number, it's not going to end well. And... it doesn't.
At that moment she is going to be last. Kent knows that. But he is in a fight with her to retake the bit and act like a race horse, at least a little. Well, she won't and honestly Kent in hindsight probably knew she would not. But he got pissed. So he keeps trying to make her, to no avail. And that is where in the end, it was the horses fault but Kent looks like the bad guy. He probably felt that the only one trying to win that race was him. Certainly not her from the 1/4 pole home.
I do not know if Kent has ridden this horse before and or had any success but I have had fillies like that before and finding a rider that can get along with those types is key IMO. Chances are a female rider WOULD do well on her. So would certain guy riders but you have to know that colony of jocks and I do not.
If there is room to drop down and if they change riders next out and if the race can set up for her to get solo next out, I would give her a long look as a play on. Not that Kent cannot win on her. I'm sure he could but he got upset. That's the only reason I suggest it.
But if they hook her right eye and inch in front, she won't fight much I don't think unless it is inside the 1/8th pole. But a clear lead, sure, she's probably worth a play off that bad effort. Because the effort was all between her ears and then, from the 1/4 pole home, it was all between Kent's ears. It was not her true ability. And not a good look for Kent but he's an old dog at this stage of the game and he is not going to change. And please know, I really liked him. Always have, always will. He is a great rider. No question about it. But also a human that is not perfect.
Hope that helps to better understand what you saw.
All the best Kona and good luck with the pk 3's and 4's next weekend !