'ROID RAGE

[ageecee]

1,4,5 for me

[Georgerz]

I think the lack of drugs did him in.

[ClockerQ]

he was throwing his head around from the start. acted up in his stall too. he just didn't want to run today. we'll never really know y because BB can't tell us. He might have gotten kicked in the front legs going into the first turn too. very erratic body language from him the whole day.

[Mali]

I'm just speaking for myself, but I have a feeling they will come up with some minor physical excuse. And I personally, will probably question its validity. Fair or not.

[ClockerQ]

1,4,5 for me too. but i would add winstrol withdrawal as another choice.

[Tucumcari]

I also have to add the trip. I think the riders had mission accomplished. The stupidest move ... or one of them was Meaux didn't send when he was clear, That he allowed them to put him in tight and let them force him to go three wide which then turned into about 6 wide as the horse to his inside carried him very wide! Kent might need to watch the race several times and feel very very bad for allowing the other jocks to screw with him like he did.

[River Summit]

"His feet. The TC schedule. is trainer's very big mouth. The heat and humidity. A rough trip early, and a 6 wide trip. Had he won it he was running atleast 2+ miles to do it."

I have to agree with Tucumcari's quote above, and add perhaps a letdown from the withdrawal of steroids, plus the fact that he lacks a pedigree for 1 1/2 mis., let alone 2+ mis., and a crappy ride from his jock including running up on the backside of the horse in front and worrying about being boxed in in a 1 1/2 mi. race during the first 1/2 mile.

[Outermonvolia]

In my opinion the steroids are not the culprit neither is the distance of the race. I will guess intermittant displacement of the soft palate. How many of us have had 3-5 shots run a poor race without any explanation? Say what you will but Dutrow is a good horseman and the Belmont results doesn't change a thing.

[Tiz]

I'm not sure I even believe that the May 15 Winstrol was skipped. I know if I customarily used it there would be no way I would change the regimen during this particular 5 week period.

Big Brown broke crooked, got a taste of race riding before the first turn, came really close to clipping heels, got wheeled out to supposedly safe ground, and got held six wide through out. Tale of Ekati's rider sacrificed any chance he had to screw with Big Brown, so that's the way it goes.
Hindsight being twenty twenty, I wish Kent D. had just let him roll from the beginning, or at least had stayed on the rail instead of thinking he had to get outside. The way he stopped though, I doubt it would have made a difference.
I'll bet he bled.

[ratherrapid]

that would be the likely cause. but, was it just me, or did BB look uncomfortable from the get go?

I'll add one other speculation. I was surprised that Ian McKinley decided to keep the wire lacing on the quarter crack. Fran Jurga's hoof blog clearly shows that the ordinary procedure when the patch is applied is to remove the wire laces. Instead, in this instance, they decided to leave them in.

The wire laces themselves cause pressure. From experience I can relate that the patch material causes additional pressure. I see the possible scenario where the wire laces--which are twisted and tightened--were pressed against the soft laminae by the patch material (which is very rigid and hard) causing a sore spot over night.

I'd think the horse bled or his breathing locked up due to heat and humidity-- more likely with big horses that are a little out of condition, as this one EXCEPT he looked to me like he was struggling all the way. Desormeaux said he knew he had no horse at the 5/8 pole.

[Playwithfire]

No steroids did not make him stop. The steroids is a non issue here. Something made him stop what was it?

The Racing Gods
The ghost of Secretariat
Karma

Take your pick

[mary syers]

No Lasix. Isn't the lasix rule different in New York? Mary

[BenB]

Without any kind of vet,s stuff he is not even a claimer.
So I call it JUSTICE.

[erins isle]

Sorry, but I do not understand your way of racing. I am glad I saw a Derby-winner (Epsom, New Approach) yesterday, who won in an incredible way and did not need your kind of medicine. Of course he will be checked, but our way of European racing is much more cleaner than yours.

[surprisewind]

Mary,
NY lifted the lasix ban in 1995. I thought the same thing until this afternoon.