THE ASPIRING HORSEPLAYER

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. Read the rest of this entry »