Steve Coburn's comments after losing the Belmont

[Drvmb1ggl3]

[QUOTE=Bristol Bay;7613281]
If the Triple Crown is indeed a media construct, it’s a popular one. Everyone agrees it would be good for the sport if more horses won it. So why not make it a series of races as Many have suggested?

In other sports, rules are changed all the time to avoid injuries or to increase scoring. Hockey changed the rules so there can only be one player defending the area in front of the net. More goals are scored as a result. Basketball had already made a similar adjustment. Baseball lowered the mound and widened the strike zone. All of these tweaks were to make the games more fan-friendly, as my husband put it.

So, okay, people are hungry for a Triple Crown horse. Make it fair so a good horse has a better chance.

Racing history and tradition haven’t kept tracks from closing.[/QUOTE]

It doesn’t need to be changed.
The English Triple Crown hasn’t been won in 44 years. Racing still thrives in the British Isles.

You don’t need more TC winners to appreciate racing. It is what it is. Love it for what it is.

Those changes in other sports, like defender in hockey, backpass in soccer, etc, were changed to address negative aspects of the game that had crept in and had changed those games as a spectacle. They don’t make it easier to win the Stanley Cup or the World Cup or the Champions League. So those are bad analogies.

[Calamber]

[QUOTE=Sparrowette;7613235]
Well, he seems to have cut himself…

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2089774-california-chrome-injury-updates-on-horses-foot-and-recovery

California Chrome’s struggles in the 2014 Belmont Stakes may have an explanation. According to Eric Crawford of WDRB in Louisville, the colt kicked himself at the start and may have injured his right front hoof:[/QUOTE]

Well that makes sense now, I told my husband he looked like he was “climbing” all the way down the backside, as if he could not get hold of the track, and now it makes sense. I just ignore the Coburn thing, they had him all whipped up the whole time. Silly really, typical media nonsense and the man is more than a bit childish.

[vineyridge]

I’d just like to point out that Tim Tam was able to come in second on a cracked sesamoid.

Espinoza has got to be one of the unluckiest jocks on the planet. War Emblem couldn’t do it because of his gate stumble, and CC couldn’t do it because of a gate accident.

[grayarabs]

I take it back. I don’t think Coburn is a jerk.
Except for the “cowards” remark - he said some things that most people have thought for years. Horse people and the general public.
We would love to see another TC.

I got all teary-eyed when Coburn said the horses that run all three legs run their guts out.

Yes - the three races are individual races - but the prize has been to win them all.
So much TC hype and fanfare.

Today’s loss stung. Somewhat like a horse/rider combo winning the old three-day five phase event - but skipping roads and tracks.

After today’s loss - still watching the coverage - Costas’ head - is that hair on top? His?

Dang it - my computer still does not like the “new” CofH format. Pardon - I give up.

[kcmel]

[QUOTE=grayarabs;7613185]
I am disappointed for the horse.

Coburn is a jerk - but I kinda agree with him.

I am always so disappointed when a TC is lost to a horse that did not run the other races.

This year seems particularly bad as the horses that placed:

First and second - neither had run in either the Derby or the Preakness.

Only two other horses besides CC ran in the D and P.
One finished middle of the pack. The other one last.

The others skipped a race.

I know - I know. Different races. The TC winner has to beat all comers.

But still - the top two finishers did not run the Derby and Preakness.[/QUOTE]

It’s not suppose to be easy. It should take an exceptional horse to win.

[Calico]

[QUOTE=Drvmb1ggl3;7613193]

The Peter Pan is a traditional prep for the Belmont.
You guys seem to have absolutely no sense of history about horse racing.[/QUOTE]

Truth. But keep it down, would ya’? because I greatly enjoyed Tonalist’s ridiculous odds. Peter Pan winner trained by Christophe Clement at 12-1? Sweet!

[shiningwizard255]

[QUOTE=Zuri;7613223]
I hope California Chrome will keep racing. [/QUOTE]

Me too. I think he’s a good horse that’s coming into his own, but today was not his day…he looked tired.

[Drvmb1ggl3]

[QUOTE=vineyridge;7613294]
I’d just like to point out that Tim Tam was able to come in second on a cracked sesamoid.[/QUOTE]
And Charismatic was beaten a length and a half on a broken leg.
Spectacular Bid got nabbed for 2nd after having a huge needle taken out of his hoof the morning of the race.

[Equine_Studies]

Geez-no wonder he had nothing left for the home stretch-he ran a mile and a half missing a chunk of heel-now there’s a horse with some heart. Looks like all that’s left to do is wonder what could have been.

[jolise]

I think Espinoza will be replaying that ride over and over for some time. He had the front at the rail and took Chrome back off the lead and let Commisioner come over on him, resulting in being boxed in and having to go wide. Chrome would have been much better with that lead to try to wire the field as that was more to his running style. He lost by only 1 3/4 lengths total. I think he would have been where Commisioner ended up, trying to hold off a closing Tonalist.

[SLW]

[QUOTE=Equine Studies;7613304]
Geez-no wonder he had nothing left for the home stretch-he ran a mile and a half missing a chunk of heel-now there’s a horse with some heart. Looks like all that’s left to do is wonder what could have been.[/QUOTE]

Big heart and explains a few things.

[FleabittenGray]

[QUOTE=jolise;7613311]
I think Espinoza will be replaying that ride over and over for some time. He had the front at the rail and took Chrome back off the lead and let Commisioner come over on him, resulting in being boxed in and having to go wide. Chrome would have been much better with that lead to try to wire the field as that was more to his running style. He lost by only 1 3/4 lengths total. I think he would have been where Commisioner ended up, trying to hold off a closing Tonalist.[/QUOTE]

Espinoza decided to take him off the lead because he felt “empty” leaving the gate.

[mommy_peanut]

I just love how some folks think they know so much better than the jocks that ACTUALLY rode in the race.
Stop armchair quarterbacking unless/until you actually ride the race yourself.
It was an exciting race, even if Chrome couldn’t get it done. Glad everyone made it around safely.

[Carol_Ames]

It was an unfotunate comment; spoken in disappointment surely, I did not appreciate how much stress and pounding a horse on the TC trail endures; until I knew "up close and personal"a horse who ran in all three races; it’s been hard on everyone, humans and horse

[SnicklefritzG]

I give Coburn a bye.

I can’t imagine the kind of pressure the entire team was under these last few weeks. Then to top it off with stupid questions from some members of the media.

[rudolph]

Graceless, whingeing, he has complained about everything including the Derby. From not enough kow-towing and freebies at Churchill to this. Not a sportsman, not a good sport. Look at many of the other losers after the Belmont including Smarty Jones’ people. They did not behave like this. It was a great rags to riches story until he spoiled it. He acts more like one of the evil stepsisters than Cinderella!

[vineyridge]

I just read on The Bloodhorse that his jockey said Palace Malice grabbed himself out of the gate in the Met Mile, and it took a bit of time to steady him and get him going again. But he was still able to make up a whale of a lot of distance and win going away in a much shorter race.

Pretty neat to win the Belmont last year and come back on the same race card this year and win another G1, this time a mile. I can’t give Coburn a bye. He got the big head, and it just kept inflating.

[Lauruffian]

[QUOTE=Drvmb1ggl3;7613301]
And Charismatic was beaten a length and a half on a broken leg.
Spectacular Bid got nabbed for 2nd after having a huge needle taken out of his hoof the morning of the race.[/QUOTE]

Point of clarification: Charismatic broke down just past the wire, not before it.

[grits]

Coburn’s rant was graceless and a shame (and so was NBC’s) - especially in the wake of so much graciousness over the past weeks. But hubby, not usually a sentimental person, pointed out that Coburn’s anger seemed to come from stress over genuine love for the horse and anxiety over the toll that the TC ordeal had taken on him.

That I can understand.

[Kim]

War Admiral lost a chunk of hoof at the start of the Belmont and still won.

Coburn acted like the “dumba$$” of his stable name.

Looking forward to seeing more of Tonalist! He is lovely, with a huge stride. Too bad the media was so focused on the CC hype that we know very little about this guy or the other horses that raced.