Another year, another chance at a Triple Crown, and the results are the same. Trash. Nothing but trash. Millions are howling today as small fortunes were lost betting on what appeared to be a “sure thing” in the Belmont. What happened? What went wrong? How could the unthinkable have happened?
We should’ve been smarter, is the short answer. NOTHING in sports is a sure thing, and that goes ten-fold for thoroughbred racing. We’ve been here before. It’s not like this is the first time we thought we had a “lock” for the Triple Crown, and yet once again we all drank the kool-aid and singled on a horse that appeared to be heads and shoulders above the rest.
I used to tell people every year to “bet the longshot” in the Belmont. The Derby, I used to say, was a crap-shoot where one of the best horses would win depending on who got the best trip. The Preakness was the real “fair” test where the best colt usually prevailed. The Belmont had always been a freak-show of shattered dreams and ridiculous longshots. On Saturday that trend continued with Da’ Tara – who we last saw losing in the stretch to Roman Emperor – wiring the field as lone speed to return $72 to win in the upset of the year over as-yet undefeated Big Brown. He was the lone speed in the race. He had Nick Zito as a trainer. Why didn’t we give him a better chance?
To be fair, minutes before the race I loaded up an additional round of tri’s including him in 2nd and 3rd thinking ” he’s a Tiznow colt and he will be out in front,” but I never imagined he’d actually win – not with Big Brown’s patented cruising speed. And yet that’s exactly what happened.
To say this was a disappointment doesn’t do justice to the mood that followed for many on site. For fans of the sport this was the golden moment we had been waiting for. The moment where our friends and family, who think we’re half-crazed nuts for being horseplayers, would finally see what it is that captivates us – sheer greatness. Instead all was lost and now one gets the feeling that the sport may well slip back into obscurity again until another colt (or filly) rises to the occasion and gets our hearts pounding at the prospect of making a run at history.
On the plus side, Rick Dutrow’s words finally came back to haunt him. Regular readers know I had called on folks to support Big Brown because A) I thought he was unbeatable against these 3 year-olds, and B) A Triple Crown win was EXACTLY what our sport needed. Then, Dutrow opened his mouth and started bashing everyone else, including a few uncalled for salvos against my beloved Curlin. I have to be honest here. Even though I lost a small fortune myself (including pick 4 tickets, trifectas, and a 5-of-6 rebate on a pick 6), it was all worth it to see that guy eat crow after what he had said. Of course, I feel for the horse and hope he is okay. Everything I’ve read thus far indicates he is, thank god. Big Brown never did anything himself to warrant hatred just because his trainer had no idea of how to handle with class his moment in the spotlight.
I also want to be honest here and say that something strikes me about this whole situation as being rather fishy. I have no proof of this and almost don’t want to suggest it, but does the following situation bother anyone else? Consider first that Pete Rose is not in the MLB Hall of Fame because he gambled on sports – including games involving his own team – despite the fact that no evidence exists that he ever bet against his own club. If you’re betting your team to win, where’s the conflict of interest? Yesterday at Belmont, the potential for something at tad more insidious reared it’s ugly head. Again, this could be totally wrong, but it’s worth considering if nothing else. We knew Big Brown had a quarter crack. We knew he might not be 100%, yet all connected with the horse assured us he was in fine form. What if the fix was in? Forgive me for being so negative, but I think you have to be a tad sceptical when tens of millions of dollars are changing hands. Add to the fact that we’re dealing with Dutrow here – not exactly an ambassador of integrity.
In fairness, the track veterinarian has indicated that the horse was not lame before the race, and that he appeared fine afterwards. Also, for what it’s worth – he looked like a champion to me in the post parade. I was watching his hoof – he showed no obvious signs of discomfort, and he didn’t really seem to be favoring one leg or the other from what I could see after the race. Those watching on TV probably got a better look though. I was in a sea of college aged idiots who had pissed me off all day long by taking forever at the betting windows. More on that in a moment. He (Big Brown) wasn’t sweating at all, and his coat looked fantastic. Denis of Cork looked like the other standout – with his ears pointed sharply up in an almost jack-rabbit fashion. I even pointed them out to the folks I was with saying “look at his ears!”
Oh well. So goes life I suppose. As horseplayers you rip up your tickets and move on. There will be another day, and we’ll have better ones as handicappers. Some races just leave you scratching your head saying “WTF????”
For Big Brown, I’m hoping his camp decides to retire him rather than risking a more serious injury. If it was the hoof that bothered him, then I don’t think he should be pressed on. They’ve got a $50 million stud deal lined up after all. Of course, that bothers me on a whole different level, as now I fear we’ll see highly priced offspring that carry on his brittle tendencies. Not exactly what a sport in dire need of a stamina infusion to the bloodlines needs.
As for the rest of the day – I had a blast, even if we didn’t see history unfold before our eyes. At the end of the day Curlin is still #1 in the world, and if he goes on to win his remaining races could be looking at a repeat Horse of the Year title – something that would have been next to impossible to accomplish in the shadows of a Big Brown Triple Crown. I also got to hang out with an old friend, and some very entertaining horseplayers. I’m hoping to meet up with those guys again at Saratoga later in the summer. I also got to meet many of my fellow TBA bloggers in person for the first time! I should have a picture of that which I’ll add below here to this post any moment now. Perhaps best of all, I had a severely ego-boosting moment when I spied someone reviewing a printout of my Belmont selections in the betting line. I didn’t say anything to him, but whoever you were mystery man – you made my day. I just hope you were betting one of the winners I gave out and not one of the losers. I think I was around 50% overall, but I had a few check-marks get across. Like most of you, I did lose all the big bets thanks to Big Brown.
The situation at the track couldn’t have been less conducive to having a good time though, so I really want to thank the folks I was with. The bathrooms stopped working with over 100,000 people on site? How does that happen? On the hottest day of the year there’s no running water? That’s almost criminal. Someone’s head should roll for that. I nearly burst a kidney waiting in line for a single port-o-pot before someone spotted me in agony and pointed out an area out-of-sight (and totally unmarked) were several dozen were grouped together. As if that weren’t bad enough, one of our guys spent all day smoking pulled pork for sandwiches, and had packed lunch and sodas for the entire gang. Would you believe we couldn’t even bring the cooler in? That wouldn’t have been so bad if we hadn’t seen NYRA staff consciously turning a blind eye to underage kids dumping out gatorade and replacing it with vodka right in front of their eyes! Which is worse in your opinion? Letting a group of serious gamblers who are going to lay down a hefty chunk of change come in with sandwiches, or letting a bunch of 19 year-old college kids get wasted in the sun on pure-grain and vodka? Apparently the NYRA staff decided on the former. Unbelievable. Oh, and these same kids – probably responsible for us getting shut out of race after race. We’d go to the windows with as many as 15 minutes to post – and you’d literally stand still in line for over 10 minutes. What the hell could possibly take so long? Honestly, folks, if you’re reading this – and I know I like to reach out to newcomers here – make sure you know what the hell you’re doing before you get in line. NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING should take more than 60 seconds at a betting window. Of course, it doesn’t help when the tellers have never heard of a “wheel” bet and have no clue how to key in anything but a “box” bet. I know it must be mind blowing to those tellers that not all of us want to burn money on wasted box combination and would prefer to single on top of our tickets. How unthinkable!
Honestly, the cumulative result of this is that apart from forays to the nicer tracks such as Saratoga, Del Mar, and Santa Anita, I know I’m largely of the opinion that it’s easier these days to stay at home. I hate that being the case, but it’s true. Pimlico I must say did a fantastic job on Preakness day from where I was sitting in the Turfside Terrace, but I suppose that’s to be expected considering the cost of those tickets. I’m sure the General Admission area was a zoo on Preakness day as well.
So, I’ll sum this up by saying that today is a day for recharging our batteries. Time to get away from the game for a few days andtake stock of the other things that matter in our life. Friends, family, barbecue and pc wargaming (LOL).
I’ll be back on Friday night for some Hollywood Park action. You know the saying I’m fond of….hair of the dog that bit me and all, but for now I need to take a breather. It’s been a long, exhausting Triple Crown season. The good news is that the summer action is about to start heating up. In just a few months we’ll get our first look at some of the two year olds whose names we could be talking about this time year. That’s the beauty of horse racing. The pain of losing is enormous, but it doesn’t last long. Thanks for the memories this year, Big Brown – you were magnificent to make me like you despite your trainer’s classlessness. Here’s wishing you a happy retirement if they chose to hang it up. For a moment, you had the nation watching with baited breath – and not many colts in history can say that.
Whoa Kevin, you really shouldn’t suggest anything about the race being “fixed.” In fact, you should edit your post. Serious allegations like that shouldn’t be suggested without evidence. Big Brown was sweaty between the legs during the race which is a bad sign. While in the paddock the telecasters said he looked great and dry despite being worked up and sweaty a bit earlier in the stable area. You can easily see the white foam of sweat between his hind legs in the replays passing the stands the first time where he was very rank and not relaxed as you would wish in such a long race. I noticed one horse sweaty on the neck but no other horses sweating between the legs. Tale of Ekati forced him really wide after Kent bumped his way to the outside. On the far turn Kent asked him to go and there was absolutely no response from the horse. I told my buddy, “It’s over, he’s got no horse,” as I stared in disbelief.
Anyway the real controversy over the safety of the horses is bad enough for the sport. There’s no need to drum up some controversy over absolutely nothing. I realize the result was hard to believe, but so were the defeats of War Pass and Pyro earlier this year.
Just a couple more things…
One, I’m very sorry you made it up there to New York and were denied seeing history made. That could have been the experience of a lifetime for you I’m sure.
Two, there was so much more money to be made if Big Brown won that race, not to mention the prestige. Big Brown just lost a ton of money in stud value, didn’t make history as a triple crown winner, and probably won’t meet up with Curlin in what could have potentially been one of the greatest showdowns in racing history. The whole thing is just pretty sad.
KS,
Sounds like a nice day lol
I went for Afleet Alex’s Belmont and my experience was actually very good. I had reserved tickets though, so it may not have been as crowded where I sat. I never got shut out making bets and it was actually very well organized in my area. Of course, there was only about 70k people vs. 90k yesterday but I can’t imagine that 20k extra folks spread out at that giant place would alone cause the chaos you endured.
And as far as it being fixed, I can’t imagine that anyone would be stupid enough to try that in the Belmont Stakes. Though, I will say, the first thing my father said was and I roughly quote “and you try to bet these animals and crooks seriously”. Basically saying if it isn’t the tempermental animals that ruin you, it will be the less than honest human participants. Which, I guess might be true.
I’m sure he isn’t the only one to think that.
@Jerrry – no allegations made – in fact I’ve gone out of my way in my opinion to make it clear that I’m not suggesting a “fix” actually occurred – just considering the possibility that it could have. There’s a big difference between the two. I also stated that I was “probably wrong” and that I had no proof.
It probably wasn’t fixed – but it is something to think about. Kent did the right thing by pulling him up. You could see he asked for BB’s run and it wasn’t there. So in that sense, all seems fine. I’m not trying to suggest it WAS fixed, just saying it was fishy and it’s something to think about. It was in the back of everyone’s minds leaving, so I’d be dishonest by not mentioning that’s how people felt.
Overall though, just a very depressing outcome. Still kind of feels unreal. Like it was just a bad dream. Thankfully no one was seriously hurt – I mean it looks like Brownie will come out of this okay.
Just looked at the tv replay for the first time. Dutrow might’ve been the only guy there sweating worse than me. He looked genuninely upset after the race.
My first comment after the race via text message to my wife: Something to the effect of “serves him right for talking trash about Curlin.” While I wanted to see BB win – I didn’t want to see Dutrow win. Sort of a rock and a hard place kind of situation.
9.June 8th,
2008
3:37 pm I have PLENTY of comments about Belmont Park. Where do I begin? My tickets were purchased online through a similar site such as Ticket Master. However, what I didn’t know was that CLUBHOUSE Row GA really meant CLUBHOUSE general admission. So, guess where I sat? NOWHERE!! CLUBHOUSE GA (general admission) is a large platform (no seating). The sad part is that this ticket only cost $10 bucks at the window but when you’re unfamiliar with the stadium/park then you’re SOL because those same $10 tickets cost me $130. Yeah, that’s right ($130) and NO seat. So, let me move on to the next issue. PARKING! They had limited parking attendants who held orange flags while they were fumbling around in their pockets to grab a lighter and light up their cigarette of the moment. The was almost no parking spots left and it was pretty much a free for all for approximately 100,000 people! Imagine that? No organization, no structure no guidance whatsoever in assisting anyone who attempted to park their car. So, moving on, after FINALLY managing to find a spot to well, we can call it “park” the car for the sake of this blog. So now that the car is situated near the fence and the bushes, we managed to make our way into the stadium where, need I remind you, NO SEATS were there waiting for the SUCKER that purchased two $10 tickets for $130 bucks! So, nature comes a calling and I need to tinkle…Oh DEAR LORD…WHAT A SIGHT!!! There are literally 100,000 people in a stadium/park and there are LIMITED working bathrooms! In the one bathroom alone there were 14 stalls (yes, 14) did I mention there were 100,000 people attending this event?? Well, you get the picture….these bathrooms literally were on OVERLOAD… NONE would flush and Oh Dear God did it stink in the 92 degree temperatures with no air conditioning!!!! So, okay, that particular bathroom wasn’t the best one to choose…maybe the next restroom will be better? Ummm….not so much! The 45 minute wait began with at the end of the lines that curled up around several walls of betting windows/stations! So it’s best to pray to GOD that you can hold it in. But no worries….once you do manage to get to a stall, it WON’T flush because the sheer volume of people using the facility was well beyond the capacity that this facility can handle! ALL of the stalls literally turned into PORT-A-POTTY’s by the end of the day! Moving on the yet the next issue….They do have shuttles that will take you to and from your designated parking area….BUT don’t think that you’ll get home ANY TIME soon…..3 hours after leaving the event we finally managed to drive a total of 6 miles!! Am I embellishing any of the above? TRUST ME, I am NOT!!! So, the real question here is, will I ever go back to Belmont Park ever again?? ONE WORD says it all….NO!!!
— Posted by Nancy
It’s awful hard to understand how a horse like that can just drop out of the Belmont for no reason at all. We may never know why, but there must have been a reason.
It looked really fishy to me as well.
And my Belmont day didn’t go well either. The power went out just before the race. No time to make it to a track or bar, nobody covered it on the radio, had no internet access….just as well I guess.
I hear ya Nancy – NYRA did a real bang up job yesterday all around .
We stayed around for the 12th and 13th races and still hit traffic. Didn’t get back to a friend’s house about an hour east down I-84 until around 11:00 PM.
The bathroom situation was the worst I’ve ever encountered in my life. A trip to the bathroom can be expected to involve lines in such crowds – but I literrally missed two entire races making one piss stop. And it really wasn’t so much for the crowds (by then I was told that “all the bathrooms are closed” – and this was around race 5), as it was that the bathrooms were literrally about a mile away from where we sat. I really feel bad for any elderly people or folks with bladder problems. That must’ve been torture.
The parking, I must say, was actually better than Pimlico. Consider that I spent $60 for Preakness Parking and got put in a mud swamp known as “Rogers Ave Lot.” Thankfully I had cautioned my wife against wearing nice shoes – something that goes a bit against Preakness tradition (dressing up and such – we don’t do the ridiculous hats or anything – but we try to be presentable if possible). Good thing – because we were walking in 2 foot deep mud just to get out of the lot – and then no one there knew how we could possibly get to our seats . They made us enter with the infield hooligans, and ensured us folks inside “would help” – what a laugh – we almost got stuck in the infield. Army guys refused to let us into the Turfside Terrace despite our tickets that clearly said we had access!
I’m with you though – I’m just about done going to these things live. Every year they just find a way to rip you off more and more. Seems to make more sense to hang out with friends at home, fire up the grill, drink regularly priced beer and bet from the computer.
Hi Kevin,
Just read your article about yesterday’s trip to Belmont, great summary. Despite the shock of BB getting pulled up (and losing a nice chunk of change) we did have a great day.
It was nice actually being able to flush a toilet rather than going in the bushes with 10 other guys.
In response to Jerry:
There will always be a thought in the back of everyone’s mind when the “sure thing” pulls up and crushes everyone’s picks. Never, never underestimate the power of greed and money.
How much was paid out with Da’ Tara winning verses all of the pick 3, pick 4, pick 6 and doubles with BB as the lone selection in race 11??? Not to mention all the tri’s with BB on top.
With Casino Drive being scratched all of the odds fell into the bettors favor……….unless…….. the BIG FAVORITE GOES DOWN!
Kevin,
Thanks for not taking me to the Belmont. Seriously! THANK YOU!!!
I listened to it on the radio while returning from Richmond. I expected Big Brown to start making a move when there were 5 furlongs remaining. I felt he’d run about 3rd then make a move at 5 furlongs. I had two dogs in the car, no other humans. When the announcer stated 5 furlongs remaining I started screaming “yes, YES! Go Brown, NOW! This is when he’ll run, this is it!” The dogs went nuts with me yelling. And then… nothing. I was in total shock to hear what came next.
Brown was used to making his move sooner; this was his longest race. In training did they ever take him this far? It would have needed to have been done prior to the Preakness; prior to the Derby really. Adapting a horse to this distance within that 5 week set is too late.
Train for that Belmont from the beginning all along… win that Triple Crown. Not wait to see if you win the Derby before you bother. If you have the horse.
Kevin,
That was pretty neat that you had Da Tara in 2nd with all-at least that came
out —1st…..Oh Well.
I thought it was a very sad day for racing…..I think we have to think the other
way-He was super for 5 races,with so little foundation we thought it was impossibe for a super clinker—Horses are not machines. I read an article
that Steve is very upset with 128 lbs assigned to Curlin for the Foster…Might
not go,,,,,,,,,,,
@George – Indeed – you guys always make any trip a blast. I’m still asking people at red lights “Hey, how’d Big Brown do?” in honor of Hayjack. And I can still hear that dang fire siren in my head!
@Diss – right there with you. We saw BB swing wide out in the backstretch and thought all was well. Thought he was going to cruise as always and get one or two taps and be gone. Suddenly he’s being asked and he’s moving backwards – then he’s being pulled out of the race. “Here we go again.”
@Gregg – true, true, true. Not machines indeed. Like George’s wife said to us this morning. “Well guys, that’s why it’s gambling.” True indeed. Wouldn’t be a “gamble” if there was no upset possible. Hadn’t heard about Steve and the Foster yet. I can’t lie – I want to see Curlin come to Saratoga now that I”m thinking of heading up there in August. Gotta see him run again and it doesn’t look like I can make the Foster.
Disappointing day – but they can’t all be magical – that’s what makes the special days so…special.
What do you mean by “fishy”. Unless you can describe in detail the particulars on how the race might have been fixed, how can you describe it as fishy. This is not responsible writing and should not have been written. Without any details you cannot be taken seriously.
“Fishy” means it just didn’t look right. And it didn’t.
It would not make for responsible writing if he spun wild tales and threw accusations around. The horse ran like he was on muscle relaxers or something; willing to do his job, just no get up and go. There is absolutely nothing that has been found to be wrong with him and he galloped normally that morning. It looked fishy.
Great summary, Kevin! And you aren’t the only person to think what occurred yesterday was a bit odd. With Dutrow’s known love of betting huge money, and given his less-than-pristine character, it is not beyond the realm of possiblity that, for lack of a better phrase, “the fix was in.”
However, as much as I dislike Dutrow, I don’t believe he would do that, only because his ego couldn’t take losing the Triple Crown. I mean, this guy has been running his mouth for more than a month now about how great his horse is. I’m sure he would not have run Big Brown if he had known there was a problem, unless he’s truly psychotic and thought BB could win regardless.
Personally, I think Kent Desormeaux rode a terrible race. People celebrating him because he pulled the horse up are reacting based on the assumption something was physically wrong (and with fresh memories of Eight Belles); everyone on site said there was nothing wrong physically. He was just plain tired, not just from the heat, but from Kent fighting him and, possibly, being psychologically demoralized from not running “his” race. And people can laugh all they want about how the Japanese train their horses, like Casino Drive, but I guarantee Rags to Riches’ little brother was a better conditioned horse than Big Brown, who was “all-too human” when missing training due to his hoof issue in the week leading up to the Belmont. I want to see them both back in October for the Breeders’ Cup, to settle this issue once and for all.
rifking1969-it looked fishy because he galloped that morning nomally??? Are you kidding me. Watch the video replay. He was rank, he had a tough ride by the jock and he did not fire when asked on the final turn. It happens all the time and it happenned yesterday. Many favorites lose, if they all won we would quit our day jobs and just make a living betting favorites at the track.
Thanks for the backup there, rifkind and Val. Love the way you throw down the gauntlet, Val – would love to see him (BB) get to run again if he is healthy – reports when he missed training said he was upset when he couldn’t hit the track. But, if there’s any reason to fear he may get injured, I’d prefer he retire. I’m probably being overly cautious with that. Whatever they decide, he’s earned a rest
@robert – I’m sorry if you feel that way and I apologize if I’ve upset you, but in my mind I’ve done no malicious writing. I stand by my words. Perhaps “fishy” is the one you are focusing on, and I can see how it’s possible to read more into that. As rifkind said, it didn’t look right. It is what it is.
I think if you look over the entire paragraph though, you’ll see I’ve never said it “did” happen – I merely asked “what if?” – which is a perfectly reasonable thing to ask when such volumes of cash are changing hands and something unexpected happens.
I understand Kevin. Too me, It was a horse that did not want to run. They are animals, not machines, and sometimes they do not want to run. But like you say, it is what it is. I see it simply as a horse that did not win. He is at this point, a good horse, not a great horse. Lets see if he comes out for the Travers or the BC and then we can revise his rating if neccessary.
Good lord. Is any of that over-flowing trash bin material going to be sorted for recyclable parts?
Not sure you’ll ever see Curlin at the Spa. Last year Asmussen was quoted as saying:
“I think Graveyard of Champions and the best horse I’ve ever had shouldn’t go in the same sentence. That’s how I’ve always felt about it. I didn’t give it that nickname, but we’re aware of what happens here.”
He may even pull him from the Foster due to the weight assignment, wonder where he’ll go next? I’ll bet he stays away from Santa Anita on the synth. Maybe turf? Maybe Jockey Gold Cup again?
Sorry i missed you on Saturday, I showed up right after you left before the fifth.
@ Robert – glad you aren’t mad. You’re darn straight about them not being machines, and this probably was nothing more than a horse just having an off day. I also agree with your assessment: Good, not quite great (at least not yet). If he’s sound I’d like to see him come back. If not I’d prefer he’s rested and/or shelved.
@Sittingpugs – hey buddy – long time no see! Hope things are well in the ATL. That’s a very good question. I’m going to guess yes as I saw folks cleaning up recyclables such as cans before we had left. I know there’s a massive cleanup operation at Pimlico following the Preakness, and my guess is that something similar occurs at Belmont.
@Geno – Good point – I remember that Asmussen comment now that you mention it. Dang! There goes that idea. You didn’t miss much on Saturday – I was an amorphous sweaty blob by then. I was drenched – and rather embarrased by it as I just couldn’t stop sweating.
Man, I went into this weekend with the lowest of expectations about the commute and the facilities, and I was shocked by how much better it was than I had thought. We didn’t get there till the 8th so our train wasn’t crowded – the line to get in wasn’t bad either. Once we got in, we quickly realized the best thing to do was go up. No lines for beers, no lines for bathrooms… and if you looked like you knew what you were doing, you could sneak up into the bleachers and grab a seat. We did that and managed to watch a couple races sitting down.
Other than that, we just wandered around into other areas I think we probably weren’t supposed to go. We got down to the other end of the grandstand and watched the stakes race by jumping up and down from the back of the crowd.
There were still a lot of things that did bother me…
When we first got there we went down close to the rail. Yikes. It was like Hurricane Katrina.
I can totally sympathize with the betting lines frustrations. Not only did I not pick the horses right, it seemed like I picked the worst betters to stand behind as well. TAKING FOREVER! And they felt like they only needed 4 ATMs for the whole freaking track? Also, i couldn’t find betting machines that’d take cash.
The leaving part was probably the most nightmarish part… it took an hour or so to get funneled back to the train and on our way.
Oh, actually, the most nightmarish part was that I didn’t cash any tickets all day. The only race I won on was the last, and it was for a mere $5… and then that ticket got ruined in my pocket.
So yeah, it wasn’t as bad as I expected… but In light of it all, I’m looking forward to Arlington next Sunday…. air-conditioning.
keven; a tough day i would never go to a triple crown race the tracks are not ever geared up for them.
the race; with casino out i passed the and all the exotics. as iexplained last week all my theorys were dashed when casino was out.however la-tara replaced casino as the horse to tire big brown i think one tends to forget browns breeding has definate distance limitations. belmonts main track makes all the distances
more pronounced. long to the first turn a longer than normal turn a very long backstretch and a long second turn and tough stretch. i think the lack of training between races and maybe the race track tired him. big mistake to push the pace in that race.
dutrow has proved the villiage idiot. enough said about that.
kevin rule 1= 2/5 automatic pass. i just watched secretariat win the crown i just watched seattle slew win and i live in seattle 2/5 no beat.
big time horses are more fun to watch than bet………….glc
Kevin; I was unable to be at Belmont on Saturday… so I didn’t miss anything. The below link is to my post Belmont blog where I offer up my humble opinion WHY Big Brown flopped. Enjoy!
http://www.wnst.net/WNSTBaltimoreSportsRadio/tabid/36/EntryID/5664/Default.aspx
Gary
Wow, that’s strange Gary – I must’ve been over on your blog leaving a comment at the same time you were here!
Excellent wrap-up Gary. I think you laid it all out quite logically. Hadn’t considerd Coa and Tale of Ekati’s role myself.
I’ll be looking forward to your posts again once Laurel heats up later in the year. Hope to see you around in the meantime.
@Gary Curry – love the “village idiot” reference. Did you see he (Dutrow) is pinning all the blame on Desormeaux now?
@Sam – don’t worry bro – better days will come. And as you say, days that include air conditioning!
kevin if dutrow hears a loud poping noise it will be his head coming out of his ass. i`m beginnng to sence he has a reputation like mullins has on the west coast. his horses are better than there breeding and there claims improvement is dramatic. mullins couldn`t train his hair to lay down a few years ago an all of a sudden every thing is his barn is a treat. theres a lot of enhancing of form with horses and it seems more common today. the steroid issue is a no brainer that should be stopped ASAP.
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[...] 3-year-old son of Boundary has been on the shelf since that nightmare in the Belmontback in early June. Trainer Rick Dutrow and owner Michael Iavarone of IEAH Stables have been [...]
[...] to watch Big Brown march towards what appeared to be a certain date with Triple Crown glory, only to have those hopes tossed out like so much trash? Obviously we don’t have a horse with at Triple Crown on the line this time around, but as [...]
[...] For the second time in 3 years we’ve had each of the Triple Crown races won by different horses. In 2007 it was Street Sense, Curlin, and Rags to Riches. Now in 2009 it’s Mine That Bird, Rachel Alexandra, and Summer Bird. We mentioned in the pre-race handicapping that it would not be a surprise if the “other Birdstone” prevailed. With all of the attention focused on Mine That Bird, Charitable Man, and Dunkirk, the colt slipped under the radar and provided jockey Kent Desormeaux (who was white hot, winning 4 races on the day including 3 in a row at one point in the early going) with a perfect opportunity to atone for the disappointment of Big Brown in the 2008 Belmont. [...]
[...] attempt at history in 2008. Betting handle was down as well. On the plus side, there were no reported plumbing problems this year. Still, the bottom line was that without a marquee runner (no disrespect to Mine That Bird, mind [...]