Quick Belmont takes

[hdembski]

I watched the Belmont on and off and have a few quick comments.

I heard a comment about how brown was off the Equipose and it was "out of his system". If this is true and he stays off it i'll say he may never win a big race again at a distance, and it would explain why a "Boundary" horse got such a distance & like Barry bonds diminishes whatever Brown has acomplished. I hope that roid is banned unless totally medically necesary. I also heard about the crack in the hoof affecting performance and that he may have been kicked. I think it was a combination of the heat, being off the juice and being beat up a bit. The reason i didn't watch the whole thing is they need to speed up time between races and stop the "dutrow sob story" how he had a tough childhood and kent's kids issues, filler, but nobody cares except die hard horse fans. I applaud Kent for not abusing brown and easing him, it always has to be about the horse and the safety of the animal. Finally Dutrow acted like some idiot sore loser. He'll never be an elite trainer and had to rely on the Roids to even get this close to a triple crown. Cheaters never win.

[ruaff]

I don't believe he was in Equipoise to begin with. I think it was winstrol and although they are both "steroids" I think the effects of the two are different.
As for the soft pieces Dutrow and Kent - the die hard horse fans actually don't care about them - those stories are there to pull in the figure skating / gymnastics fans.

[Hold Your Peace]

I watched the Belmont on and off and have a few quick comments.

I heard a comment about how brown was off the Equipose and it was "out of his system". If this is true and he stays off it i'll say he may never win a big race again at a distance, and it would explain why a "Boundary" horse got such a distance & like Barry bonds diminishes whatever Brown has acomplished. I hope that roid is banned unless totally medically necesary. I also heard about the crack in the hoof affecting performance and that he may have been kicked. I think it was a combination of the heat, being off the juice and being beat up a bit. The reason i didn't watch the whole thing is they need to speed up time between races and stop the "dutrow sob story" how he had a tough childhood and kent's kids issues, filler, but nobody cares except die hard horse fans. I applaud Kent for not abusing brown and easing him, it always has to be about the horse and the safety of the animal. Finally Dutrow acted like some idiot sore loser. He'll never be an elite trainer and had to rely on the Roids to even get this close to a triple crown. Cheaters never win.

He acted like a trainer whose 1/5 shot had just been eased to last in a huge race. In other words he was extremely worried about the horse and that was his top priority immediately after the race.

Later he did come out and speak with the media.

I'd have hated for him to just holler over to his help "Take him back to the barn and cool him out, I'll check in with y'all in about an hour after I give a few interviews".

And just because Dutrow openly mentioned giving Winstrol to his horses on a regular basis that doesn't mean that those trainers who said nothing on the subject weren't giving their horses Winstrol on a regular basis too.

Since it's perfectly legal I don't even care who was giving their horses Winstrol and who wasn't.

And steroids are going to do nothing for stamina.

[Bunty Lawless]

He acted like a trainer whose 1/5 shot had just been eased to last in a huge race. In other words he was extremely worried about the horse and that was his top priority immediately after the race.

Later he did come out and speak with the media.

I'd have hated for him to just holler over to his help "Take him back to the barn and cool him out, I'll check in with y'all in about an hour after I give a few interviews".

And just because Dutrow openly mentioned giving Winstrol to his horses on a regular basis that doesn't mean that those trainers who said nothing on the subject weren't giving their horses Winstrol on a regular basis too.

Since it's perfectly legal I don't even care who was giving their horses Winstrol and who wasn't.

And steroids are going to do nothing for stamina.

I'm certainly no Dutrow fan, but that post was a perfect 10!

[George William Smith]

Nice post Hold Your Peace;

Well thought out, not hateful or pessimistic; objective; your concern was for Big Brown, not the Class of the winning trainer or the lack of Class of the losing trainer.

One of the best I've seen on this blog in a long time.

[Twingirl]

I applaud Kent for not abusing brown and easing him, it always has to be about the horse and the safety of the animal.

Well it'd be nice if they put THAT horse before the cart sometime.
Given his circumstances, this might have been considered BEFORE he raced, rather than as a big *surprise* once he was looking at the butts of 8 other horses on the track?

Too little, too late for this very nice horse, in more ways than one, IMHO.

The exercise rider surely noticed stuff, as did the trainer and rider. To pretend otherwise is like asking me to believe in the tooth fairy.

[Bid]

I have more of an issue with Dutrow before the race than after. If he had a track record like Lucas his behavior would still be bad, but at least he'd have a basis to be bold. He's hard to stomach and it's a shame for the horse because it takes away from his efforts.
I'm also sick of the sob stories. It seems that the media attaches those to racing more than any other sport. It's a shame for Kent's kid, but I don't need to be depressed on my favorite days of the year. I'll probably get hit by a bus for saying this, but my experience shouldn't suffer because of something totally unrelated to racing. I'd watch some other show if I wanted that type of stuff.
The big drop off without the steroids is the recovery time. You come back faster on them, so it really does affect his stamina & strength.

[pokeyman]

I diagree. If he wants to be such a blow hard than he should face the music.

It wouldn't have taken more than a few seconds to face the media and say, ' Obviously, we are disappointed. Our horse just didn't show up and we are shocked. Now, please let me go and check my horse and I would be happy to answer questions later tonight."

It is just a MATTER OF CLASS.

BTW- as somebody pointed out...who knows if the winner was on steroids. We'll never know unless a writer has enough guts to ask Zito. I can't see Zito outright lying as he is pretty stand up.

[zinn21]

What happened to BB in the Belmont is pure speculation at this point but one thing for certain, Dick Dutrow is an embarrassment. His boisterous Belmont victory guarantees were dumb and classless.

[majxmom]

I'm also sick of the sob stories.

I didn't mind hearing the stories, but the way they told it, you'd think he was the first guy to ever live in the Hotel d'Tack. It's not like being homeless, for God's sake. There's bathrooms with showers and a kitchen, and you have no commute! What more does a guy need? I've NEVER heard a horseman say that he couldn't face the thought of living in a tack room. Most of us think of it as our ultimate backup.

[ratherrapid]

LOL!

[Diane]

HYP Excellent post.
I don't mind RD avoiding the cameras after the race. If it was me(hah) I'd have been screaming 'get outta my way' with additives. I think he showed extreme restraint in not saying a word to anyone.
What does irritate me is the media coverage practically ignored the winner. The Belmont is still a giant of a race even without it being the end of the TC chase. If the media had done their job they would have been prepared to showcase the winner, instead what they did was create hype and believe it. BB is still a great racehorse, he won the Preakness in style. The Belmont was won in great style yesterday by another racehorse, what was his name? That's the legacy the media left Da'Tara with.

[Hold Your Peace]

HYP Excellent post.
I don't mind RD avoiding the cameras after the race. If it was me(hah) I'd have been screaming 'get outta my way' with additives. I think he showed extreme restraint in not saying a word to anyone.
What does irritate me is the media coverage practically ignored the winner. The Belmont is still a giant of a race even without it being the end of the TC chase. If the media had done their job they would have been prepared to showcase the winner, instead what they did was create hype and believe it. BB is still a great racehorse, he won the Preakness in style. The Belmont was won in great style yesterday by another racehorse, what was his name? That's the legacy the media left Da'Tara with.

I agree. And it's happened before where the winner of a major race gets treated as an after thought when there's an upset.

I remember when trainer Tom Proctor won the BC Distaff unexpectedly with One Dreamer (defeating Heavenly Prize) a lot of people said he "stole that race". A few months later at his barn at Gulfstream he was showing off the win photo from the BC Distaff and he told a group of people "Everyone says I stole that race. But last time I checked the gate opened at the same time for everyone".

And as to Dutrow after the race, if Big Brown had finished third and galloped out normally looking like he just plain got beat, then it would have been very poor form for Dutrow to refuse to talk to the media right after the race. But in the case of yesterday, Big Brown's finish was "alarming" being eased to last and I thought Dutrow acted like any "alarmed" trainer would worrying that their might be some issue with the horse needing immediate attention.

[Toccet02]

right after the race, the media approached Dutrow and he said "don't even think about it" meaning, don't even think about talking to me.
Yes, take care of the horse, but show some class.
JMHO

[Sysonby]

I guess Dick Dutrow is human after all. Yes he's loud and a braggart and frankly he wore on me too. But to be fair I've never been in that pressure cooker and frankly I don't know how I'd handle it. Self delusion is an amazing thing not to mention the ego stoking of a hundred reporters tripping on your every word, prodding you for the very quote that they will later skewer you with. The media needed Dutrow and you better believe they fed him questions with hopes that he would react just as he did. The press did the same thing to Baffert and to Lukas and while both men were slightly more savvy than Dutrow, it wasn't by much.

Anyway I really don't like IEAH or what they stand for but this picture haunts me:

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Belmont-S ... FwaippaP0E
(and go to picture 28 )

They are human after all.