Belmont thread

[redlight]

I really wished BB had won today. He is a class act. Anyone ever notice though that every time in recent memory that when the trainers and owners of the potential TC winner boast with certainty that their horse is going to win the Belmont that something happens to prevent it? Dutrow should know that there is no such thing as a sure thing in racing and with horses in general. Every time I heard him say that BB was invincible I kept thinking of the Racing Gods looking down on him. Who knows, maybe if his trainer and owners exhibited the same class as Big Brown the Racing Gods would have smiled and things would have turned out differently.

I also hope that it wasn’t the steroids that made him the horse he is. Hopefully all is well and and it was just one of those unlucky days. I hope he gets the chance to race again without steroids and win.

[Madeline]

I just need to know. Was the whole Hooters thing a spoof or was the reaction so negative that it was reversed?

[LearnToFly]

@DMK;3272410

Do I think BB is looking like the Darfur victims that show up 90 days post track life in various CANTER pastures around the country? Of course not. Do I think taking a horse of his regular “hit” just before a) the longest race of his life and b) the busiest race schedule in his life might just possibly affected his strength, endurance and ability to finish strong? Oh, just a wee bit. :rolleyes:

There’s a big difference between a racehorse on steroid withdrawal and a victim of genocide in Darfur. That analogy is entirely out of line.

[Wellspotted]

What if we spread out our Triple Crown races the way the UK spreads theirs out?–

2,000 Guineas – early May – 1 mile
Derby – June – just over 1 1/2 miles
St Leger – September – 1 mile 6 furlongs and a bit

Would it be better for the horses?

[Glimmerglass]

[QUOTE=Madeline;3272454]
I just need to know. Was the whole Hooters thing a spoof or was the reaction so negative that it was reversed?[/QUOTE]

NYRA (NY Racing Association) which has some degree of say rejected the deal cut by IEAH with Hooter’s. Thank goodness!

June 7, 2008 “NYRA Nixes Hooters Deal”

The New York Racing Association refused to approve the endorsement deal late Friday, citing a “conflict of interest” between Belmont Park sponsors, which include UPS and NetJets.

As cited previously on this thread it was hoped - and came to pass - that a deal with NetJets (a long time NTRA supporter) came through with sponsoring the entire jockey field for the Belmont Stakes.

Regarding suggestions of BB being lame are bunk:

Dr. Larry Bramlage, the on-call veterinarian for the American Association of Equine Practitioners, said Big Brown “looked fine” after the race.

“His feet looked okay,” Bramlage said. “He was not lame.”

Belmont attendance was suggested as being 100k+ however it was actually far short:

Per NYRA

Belmont Park Attendance: 94,476

[Linda]

Yankee Lawyer
He looked a little off in the front left to me also. I thought his crack was a hind leg issue so wasn’t looking for a problem in that leg. That is my bet - he just wasn’t 100% from the crack.

[horsegirl888]

As others have stated, it is not necessarily the steroids but the steroid withdrawl that causes the effect in performance.

He was a good horse, potentially one of the greats, and it sure would have been awesome to see him win today, but that’s the way it goes and I am just glad that everyone made it out okay. I won’t hypothesize about what went wrong, because I don’t know, but that is horseracing and all equestrian sports, really. Nobody can GUARANTEE the outcome. Ahem. Still too bad, though.

Congratulations, Da’ Tara and Zito, that was a great race. Wire to wire and pulling away, wow. I think we all saw an amazing race and even though it is disappointing that Big Brown didn’t win, we should be grateful for seeing that. I have always liked the long shots, though. JMHO.
-horsegirl

[dogchushu]

[QUOTE=LearnToFly;3272463]
There’s a big difference between a racehorse on steroid withdrawal and a victim of genocide in Darfur. That analogy is entirely out of line.[/QUOTE]

Ratchet back the offend-o-meter. It was just hyperbole. I took DMK to mean that, even though the horse wasn’t noticeably suffering, steroid withdrawal may have kept him from being his best. A colorful analogy that helped to get the point across. That’s all.

[Tallabred]

Nike flew Big Brown to Portland on May 28th to do commercials. The biggest race of his life with jet lag. It was a wrong decision for the race but $90 million talks.

[dogchushu]

[QUOTE=horsegirl888;3272470]

Congratulations, Da’ Tara and Zito, that was a great race. Wire to wire and pulling away, wow. I think we all saw an amazing race and even though it is disappointing that Big Brown didn’t win, we should be grateful for seeing that. I have always liked the long shots, though. JMHO.
-horsegirl[/QUOTE]

Ditto! Going into this race, I told everyone I didn’t care who won and was only watching it so I could answer all the questions I knew I’d get at work on Monday.

Hoooooowever.… as soon as BB faded and it looked like Da’Tara was going to lead wire to wire? I was jumping off the couch cheering him on!

[Glimmerglass]

[QUOTE=Wellspotted;3272465]
What if we spread out our Triple Crown races the way the UK spreads theirs out? Would it be better for the horses?[/QUOTE]

Sure do anything you want to do - just don’t call it the Triple Crown. Call it three G1 races spread out over several months.

I would NEVER want to insult the accomplishments of 11 prior horses who did it the real way by calling what they did and some juryrigged politically correct mumbo jumbo ‘triple crown’ the same thing.

No horse or owner has a gun head to its held to compete in the Triple Crown. In fact scant few horses who are able to make the Kentucky Derby actually enter the Preakness or Belmont Stakes. So why play around with the Triple Crown at all?

I sadly see this frequent suggestion by people who don’t get the fact that not having a TC winner every 5 years is a good thing! We aren’t giving out pez candy here. Rather it is the Triple Crown!

Worth pointing out further: both Omaha and Citation raced in FOUR races in total during the Triple Crown chase. Omaha came in 2nd in race between the Preakness and Belmont; Citation crushed a field of horses at 1 1/4 mi in New Jersey between the Preakness and Belmont.

[YankeeLawyer]

@rcloisonne;3272390

If he were any kind of real sportsman, he would have made a statement to the press and congratulated the winner’s connections instead of sulking in the corner like a spoiled child who didn’t get his way. Waahh!

I think he perhaps was concerned at that point about his HORSE.

[DMK]

@LearnToFly;3272463

That analogy is entirely out of line.

It’s absolutely 100% your right to say that you feel that way, on that we do agree. We probably differ on whether that analogy would have any impact on Darfur, good bad or ugly, and exactly how PC we have to be to make the masses 100% happy and comfy in their world, or if such comment in any way seeded any less recognition to the issues associated with genocide, or if there is any reason that analogy matters at all in the big scope of things… but now that you’ve said it and I wholeheartedly agree you have the absolute right - nay, obligation, even - to tap away at those keys, is there any chance it could not derail this thread?

[Lady_Counselor]

On a totally random side note here: Could you believe the voice and stage presence on that 9-year old kid singing “New York, New York”?
:eek:
Wonder what he’s going to sound like when his voice changes…

[411]

As bummed as I was to see BB lose, it’s always great to see Zito win. :yes: I hope everything is ok with BB and I admire Kent for doing right by him.

[Glimmerglass]

Comments from Dutrow shed little light on the flop. Although I smell a Smarty Jones-esq nuance of ‘we might retire if he’s not 100%’ being aired out there. Such b.s.!

Thoroughbred Times June 7, 2008:

“I was looking for a problem and so far I can’t say that I see a problem,” Dutrow, his dress shirt soaked through with sweat, said outside the test barn while Big Brown walked back to trainer Bobby Frankel’s barn, where he has resided since the Preakness Stakes (G1).

The previous worst Belmont performance from a horse bidding for the Triple Crown was War Emblem’s eighth-place finish in 2002.

“Since I don’t see anything I’m going to scope him because you never know,” Dutrow said. "He wasn’t coughing or anything. I don’t know what else to do where I could check to see if anything else was wrong. It kind of looks like he’s fine to me. … He doesn’t seem to be [injured]. I watched him cool out and he doesn’t seem to be off in any kind of way. I don’t see a problem and I’m looking for one. The only thing that I know to do is just wait and see how things go. I don’t know that we’ve got to make a decision on what to do.

“If we feel like he’s 100% as we’re getting him back in training, I’m sure we’ll go forward with him. If not, I’m sure we’ll do the next thing which would be to retire him.”

Dutrow, who had not yet talked to Desormeaux after the race, said he suspected around the five-eighths pole that Big Brown was struggling.

“You could just see that our horse wasn’t coming to the leaders,” he said. “When they turned for home and he started going out and Kent started pulling him up I was under the impression that something was wrong. So far, I just don’t see it.”

“He trained good going up to the race,” Dutrow said. "Do you think that three days of training would make a difference to where he would have won or been pulled up in the race? I can’t imagine that.

"He’s going to be okay. We’re still very, very proud of him. Something has to not be right for him to be pulled up in a race, so I have to try to figure out what it is. I’m sure it’s not the horse’s fault. So there’s nothing to be down on with him.

“We did really good with him and this is a very disappointing race, but the horse looks like he’s fine, and right now I can say that he looks like he will live a good life if he never races again. So it’s not where it’s all that disappointing. We didn’t get the Triple Crown, but we won the [Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1)] and the Preakness and that was great. Right now we’re kind of trying to figure out what happened in the race. Everybody that is with the Big Brown camp I’m sure is disappointed just like I am.”

[JulieMontgomery]

I don’t have time to read all the posts here right now …

but I thought this column was interesting …

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/07/opinion/07fornatale.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin

Such attractive people - NOT.

[YankeeLawyer]

[QUOTE=Lady Counselor;3272488]
On a totally random side note here: Could you believe the voice and stage presence on that 9-year old kid singing “New York, New York”?
:eek:
Wonder what he’s going to sound like when his voice changes…[/QUOTE]

He had an amazing voice and was very cute. But I would have put him in a different outfit, personally.

[LearnToFly]

[QUOTE=DMK;3272487]
It’s absolutely 100% your right to say that you feel that way, on that we do agree. We probably differ on whether that analogy would have any impact on Darfur, good bad or ugly, and exactly how PC we have to be to make the masses 100% happy and comfy in their world, or if such comment in any way seeded any less recognition to the issues associated with genocide, or if there is any reason that analogy matters at all in the big scope of things… but now that you’ve said it and I wholeheartedly agree you have the absolute right - nay, obligation, even - to tap away at those keys, is there any chance it could not derail this thread?[/QUOTE]

Don’t want to derail the thread… Just speaking my mind, as I’m apt to do!

When the kid first got on to sing, I thought they said he was 19, and I definitely had to do a double take. :lol: Great voice though!

As to the race… i think karma’s a %&^$# and that anything can happen in racing. Glad there wasn’t a breakdown on TV and hope the steroid issue doesn’t get PETA all up in arms again. BB’s a superstar, but he’s still just a horse. He didn’t go into this race thinking “if I win today, I go in the history books.” He could care less how famous he is.

Do we have a complete order of finish? How did Guadacanal do?

[I_m_EBO]

Nike flew Big Brown to Portland on May 28th to do commercials. The biggest race of his life with jet lag. It was a wrong decision for the race but $90 million talks.

Tallabred, are you serious? :eek: I guess I’m not surprised (given the Hooters deal), but why would they take a risk like that with BB? I don’t know about horsey jet lag, but just thinking of all the things that can go wrong on a flight boggles my mind. (This is from having taken a flight a few weeks ago.) Could not the photographer have hopped a plane to NY, and photo-shopped in all the Nike stuff for the background? Wow.