Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Changing Horses in Mid-Stream? I Sure Hope Not


photo by: Chang W. Lee

I am just a "tad" confused and upset after reading an article in the "New York Times", this morning.

Apparently Rick Dutrow, Big Brown's trainer, is changing his tune, and I am not happy about the song he is singing.

After extolling the virtues of Kent Desormeaux's handling of the colt at the Belmont this past Saturday, he is now blaming him for "unnecessarily restraining him" in the early part of the Belmont Stakes. Dutrow is now looking into the possibility of changing jockeys.

And while Kent Desormeaux used the same strategy for the Belmont that he used for Big Brown's victory at the Preakness, Rick Dutrow is now complaining.

I don't get it. . . and I wonder if any of us ever will. The reasons for Big Brown's failure to capture the crown may never be known. With the horrendous heat, his recovery layoff, or his upset in his security stall, all of these factors may have contributed to the colt being off his game. But I cannot understand Dutrow's turnabout, nor his attitude toward Desormeaux who may have prevented Big Brown from having a tragic accident.

Excerpted from the New York Times' article: Desormeaux’s job seemed to be in jeopardy when Big Brown’s trainer, Rick Dutrow, pinned the Belmont loss on him, claiming on Monday that he had unnecessarily restrained Big Brown in the early part of the Belmont Stakes. Dutrow did not back off his criticism Tuesday and said he would look at changing jockeys.

Dutrow said, “If it were up to me, I would seriously consider it,” Dutrow said. “But Kent was never my pick to begin with. That was Mike Iavarone’s move. My pick was always Edgar Prado. Edgar’s my man.”

By the way, even though Dutrow refuted not giving the scheduled shot of the anabolic steroid Winstrol in May, as a reason for the Belmont loss, he said that the colt would receive a dose of Wistrol on Sunday, the 15th day of the month, according to schedule.

According to the New York Times, Dutrow was unavailable for comment on Tuesday.

Uh... Mr.Dutrow.. aren't you tempting the fickle finger of fate?

What are your feelings about this situation? Leave a comment and let us know.

8 comments:

Mrs. Mom said...

Dutrow is a jerk.

Apparently, the humbling lesson that apparently was scheduled to be taught to everyone in the Belmont was lost on him. Completely.

I still say Kent D. did an amazing job, and give him full credit for taking care of the horse.

You know, that is almost as bad as those screaming about a conspiracy... Next thing you know, we are going to hear Dutrow proclaim that...

Lets do a tad of Math here. Big Brown stood to win $8 MILLION if he won all three legs of the triple crown. The jockey gets a cut of that. Somehow, I really do not think someone paid out that percent or MORE to get the jockey to throw the race.

Nope, just can not see it...

Dutrow, Sir, you need to grow a set, and admit that the horse had an off day. It happens. YOU were the one who ran your mouth, for all to hear, about the colt. Yes, he is darn fine horse. Yes, I thik that had the stars been aligned for him, Big Brown would have spanked them in the Belmont too. But they were not, and he did not. You ran out of horse, Dutrow. Plain and simple. You ran out of horse.

Now hush your mouth, before Fate steps in and decides to teach you an even harsher lesson, and injure Big Brown. Although I am not so sure you would care if it did. But America surely would, and Mike Ivarone sure would, and so would that jockey that you now stand against....

Hush hush Dutrow- hush hush.

Anonymous said...

The only thing that hot air is good for is for blowing up balloons. Let's hope Dutrow does just that and floats out of horse training and racing before he does some disastrous damage to a horse (or jockey). Just as he should have kept his mouth closed before the race, he would be even better advised to keep it shut now. "It is better to keep one's mouth shut and let people wonder as to one's stupidity than it is to open one's mouth and remove all doubt."

Anonymous said...

I was upset from the very beginning of the race. My God you can't put something on steriods and take it off and expect something good to happen just like that. Poor Big Brown has to be suffering a long time on steriods and a short break to help his body adapt to being without them. I cried so hard for him!
Again, I don't really watch races. Don't think it is top of the list in the future for me either. These horses are babies! Let them race when they are mature. Until then let us marvel at their youth and cheer them on as a 5 year old racing. Too hard for us Anglo's. We tend to want the end result too quickly. With that comes a cost and it usually isn't good.
~rc~

Anonymous said...

Priorities; jockey Kent kept the the horse safe. Amen;'bless.

Hope kitties (& their people) w/flu are w/o it now :)

Min

Anonymous said...

You know it's almost as though everybody wishes the horse was hurt. I mean they are mad that they don't have an obvious excuse for his loss. I don't think we ever will know what happened to Big Brown in the Belmont but you only have to look at how he was acting to clearly see that something was wrong. To an amateur he looked like he was in the perfect spot to challenge Da' Tara and then it didn't happen. I don't think we will ever have the perfect explanation for what went wrong and that idiot trainer is looking for a scapegoat.

Sports Haven said...

Apparently, he didn't mind winning the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes with Kent on board.

Matt said...

That's what he gets for all the talking he did leading up to the race, saying his horse was unbeatable...now he's looking to blame someone.

Anonymous said...

Through my husbands eyes...He said the jockey held up Big Brown when he was on the inside to get to the outside but then was kicked by another horse. I could tell something happened at the beginning but it was very hard for me to try and watch. This is WAYYYYYYYYYYY too long of a race for such a young horse that is tooo young for this weigh and steriod muscles. again...STERIODS...or the lack of. Shame on people for not seeing the true beauty that is in each and every horse! Believe in the horse and watch the magic begin! It can be a true relationship that is a high in itself! I wouldn't have missed this for my life, I know! Big Brown I pray you feel the love that the world has for you. WE THE PEOPLE BELIEVE IN YOU! And I will never watch another race for you Big Brown and Barbaro! ~rc~