The Belmont is panning out to be THE 3 year old race to watch, triple crown chances or not.
I cannot wait to see what Casino Drive can do when he steps up.
I’m also excited to see Denis of Cork coming off 5 weeks rest… I kept dismissing him pre-derby. When I saw him working at Churchill, he definitely caught my eye and started changing my opinion. But after his run in the Kentucky Derby, he now has my full attention.
A Triple Crown would just be the icing on the cake.
As of late afternoon on May 18, the other early players considered for the Belmont Stakes were Casino Drive, Tale of Ekati, Denis of Cork, Anak Nakal, and Tomicito. NYRA stakes coordinator Andrew Byrnes has listed Icabad Crane, Macho Again, and Behindatthebar as possible starters.
No Colonel John? That’s too bad. His stride and running style would be well-suited to Belmont and the distance.
I don’t like Dutrow and Big Brown’s owners look like a sleazy bunch (although Michael Iavarone seems okay when they talk to him). But I’m rooting for Big Brown just like I root for Curlin despite his “distasteful” connections. :lol: Horses can’t choose their owners and trainers.
[QUOTE=Laurierace;3222089]
I don’t think anyone is a fan of the connections. This horse is enough of a class act for all of them though. I am rooting for the horse and rooting for the industry.[/QUOTE]
EXACTLY!!! 
(those Preakness pics were amazing, Laurierace!!!)
I’m SO excited - my boyfriend and I will BE THERE!! 
First time to any Triple Crown race, and I’m hoping it’s going to be the best one I’ll ever go to… but I don’t want to jinx anything either 
As someone who picked Big Brown for a derby futures pool pre-Dutrow, I don’t understand knocking him for his connections. Like Shirley Cunningham in the Pimlico winner’s circle last year just before his fraud conviction and inevitable new role as an inmate - we still rooted for Curlin.
It would be awesome to see a horse look Big Brown in the eye before he retires. What a story it would be if Casino Drive truly shows up on the big sandy!
Even if Casino Drive wins the Belmont, who is really the better horse? We will never know. I hate it when horses are entered in to the Belmont and didn’t race the Derby and Preakness. They have an unfair advantage. It takes a real athlete to do these 3 demanding races (and the traveling) in a 5 week period. If Big Brown wins he will truly be a super horse as all the other TC winners were!
Go Big Brown!!!
What’s so unfair? Fresh contenders are the chance any TC contender has to deal with in every race. If he’s that good he’ll beat 'em all.
[QUOTE=WhiteCamry;3223203]
What’s so unfair? Fresh contenders are the chance any TC contender has to deal with in every race. If he’s that good he’ll beat 'em all.[/QUOTE]
Yep!
Noone was seemingly whining when BB entered just as fresh as fresh could get in the Florida Derby, did they? He hadn’t been in race since Saratoga and even then it was only his maiden start. You can’t change the rules just to suit the circumstances.
Citation ran in a 1 1/4 mi race BETWEEN the Preakness and Belmont. That was and is why he is on another planet by today’s standards of what we expect a even a “super horse” can deal with. Ben Jones and Calumet didn’t complain one bit about fresh legs taking on Big Cy. He would’ve dispatched them like an executioner!
[QUOTE=solargal;3220939]
Can’t wait for the Belmont. CD is a very nice horse, but faced nothing in his first two races. In his maiden race in Japan the 2nd and 3rd place horse are still maidens. Though the horse can only outrun those in front of him. I think Big Brown is just a freak.[/QUOTE]
BB has also faced “nothing” in his races. But I hope you all are right and he really is a super horse. It would be nice to see that again.
I didn’t mean change the rules for this circumstance and I understand for the sport why it is allowed for horses that have not run the first two legs to enter the Belmont. But those horses are fresh and I guess that’s what I consider a slight advantage. You’re right, if BB is a super horse he’ll pull it off. I hope he does. I would love to see another TC winner.
This is a great Article about BB
http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=sportsnetwork&page=horse/news/news.aspx?id=4150944
[QUOTE=hessy35;3223350]
BB has also faced “nothing” in his races. [/QUOTE]
I don’t necessarily disagree… but…
Big Brown has at least faced traffic at this point in his career.
I am sort of indifferent about the Triple Crown at this point… I just want to see a good race!
I have nothing against Big Brown as a horse other than he seems to inbred pretty close up and that will not help in the future generations…jmho. It will weaken the breed even more
I am NOT happy about his connections and that they will be rewarded by all of this and take a place in history if they win the Triple Crown. I want nothing bad to happen to the horse but I am rooting for anyone to beat him.
If he wins the Triple Crown, they retire him to stud and with only 6 races under his belt he doesn’t prove that he is sound or can throw strong, tough horses, only big fast horse who can race 6 times and has lousy feet. This is exactly what is wrong with breeding today. Imagine breeding him to mares with a Mr Prospector close up and what do you see in your immediate future? I doubt if it will be soundness…and that is even if the horse will breed. Monthly steroid use doesn’t seem to help some of these horse when they head for the breeding shed (Cigar, War Emblem etc)
I realize that I am in the minority but there is a very good reason why you don’t see Triple Crown winners very often nor should you.
I was never a Seattle Slew fan either but he has helped the bloodlines in so many ways.
So, yes for the future of the sport I hope he does lose or ten years down the road who knows what you will see coming off of the breeding farms
[QUOTE=Nikki^;3222340]
That’s like hoping your neighbor’s child, who’s an outstanding athlete, not win in a top competition because you don’t like his/her parents and coach.
Grow up.
Can’t you be happy that for once in 28 years there is a great chance for a Triple Crown winner?[/QUOTE]
I need to grow up because I would like the next Triple Crown winner to be a perfect story?
The child analogy is bogus.
It’s a race and you root for who you want to win and I’d like to see Dennis of Cork or Tale of Ekati win the race.
How dare you root against Tale of Ekati…Do you have something against Barclay Tagg?
[QUOTE=Texarkana;3223722]
I don’t necessarily disagree… but…
Big Brown has at least faced traffic at this point in his career.
I am sort of indifferent about the Triple Crown at this point… I just want to see a good race![/QUOTE]
Word!
Add one more to the starting gate at Belmont: Preakness runner up Macho Again will go for it although the owner says he’s only looking to take home a piece of the place or show purse
“We can’t beat Big Brown without something going wrong – his feet or he has terrible racing luck,” Finley said. “We’re going there with the intention of running well and hitting the board. Some people would say, ‘Why would you run in a race where you don’t have shot?’ But things can happen.”
Word is that Casino Drive will now have an American jock (possibly Prado or Velasquez). The talk up to now was that crack Japanese jock Yutaka Take was going to be flying in for the ride. Good move I say, as Take, while hard to beat in Japan, has a less than stellar record in his ventures overseas. IMO he cost Deep Impact the Arc when he forced the horse to run closer to the pace, a departure from his normal sitp-at-the-back-swallow-the-field style (a moot point maybe, as he would have been disqualified anyway for a medication infraction).
[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;3226808]
Add one more to the starting gate at Belmont: Preakness runner up Macho Again will go for it although the owner says he’s only looking to take home a piece of the place or show purse ;)[/QUOTE]
Wow, they’re really trying to stretch that pedigree, aren’t they?
The more entries the better
Todd Pletcher looked at the field last year as being thin, regardless of Curlin’s reputation of towering over the field, the absense of Street Sense and saw an opportunity at least for 2nd. I suspect that will be the pervasive logic for others as well.
Anything further on Tomcito’s connections debating over this race? His last run netted just $895 in purse money.
Anak is interesting too. Look what his dad did in the Belmont and what odds he went off as. To me that is a 3rd story to this Belmont.
BB’s speed #s are not that impressive as past horses running at this level. It leaves me wondering how good he really is. But no doubt he is so much better than anything else we have right now. And if he is retired right after he wins, we’ll never get any answers like they did about Slew. Because of that, I am not as excited about this as I thought he was.
What is great is that this is horse racing and there are no sure things.
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