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Yahoo: Big Brown's trainer now blaming jockey


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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080610/ap_on_sp_ot/rac_big_brown_dutrow

NEW YORK - Trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. still blames Kent Desormeaux for Big Brown's stunning last-place finish in the Belmont Stakes, but he wouldn't object to the jockey riding the horse in his next race.

The decision of whether to change jockeys is up to co-owner Michael Iavarone, Dutrow said.

"I don't want to hurt anyone, especially Kent," Dutrow told The Associated Press on Tuesday morning in his barn at Aqueduct. "But I still don't understand what happened. I don't see the horse with a problem, so I have to direct my attention toward the ride. That's all I can come up with."

With Big Brown trying to become the first Triple Crown champion in 30 years after dominant wins in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, Desormeaux eased up the unbeaten colt with a quarter-mile remaining in the Belmont on Saturday.

"I had no horse. He was empty," Desormeaux said after the race.

Dutrow insisted Tuesday he had found nothing wrong with Big Brown.

"Maybe next week if something starts going wrong with the horse, then I'll understand everything," he said.

Dutrow added: "As long as the horse stays the way that I see him right now, then things are just going to keep building up for me to know that it was the ride that did him in."

He said he hadn't spoken to Desormeaux, but "if he calls me I'll talk to him, sure."

If Big Brown is healthy, the plan is for him to run next in the Travers Stakes on Aug. 23 at Saratoga.

Dutrow had no regrets about his bombastic proclamation that Big Brown clinching the Triple Crown was a "foregone conclusion."

"It's not like I'm going to go and cry in the corner," he said as he prepared for several of his horses to run Wednesday at Aqueduct. "I've got plenty to do here."

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I dont know a lick about horse racing, but over the past few weeks I started to get into it. Started to listening to local sports talk shows with them brining on horse expert guests and it got to be pretty interesting.

Like I said I dont know much about horseracing, but I watched that race and I could tell very early on that Big Brown just didn't seem to have it. You were kinda waiting for him to turn the jets on like he did at Preakness but it just simply didn't happen.

From what I understand he only trained a few times leading up to the race, and from what many horse experts say ended up being a big deal.

I mean I guess you never know because you are simply dealing with an animal here. A co-worker of mine who is big into horse racing, says that there is often times when a horse simply doesn't feel like racing. He didn't suggest thats what happend but he said its one of those things that you really wont know why the horse didn't win it really could of been anything

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[Edited: Does not appear to be a rumor] My wife is a horse racing nut, and she had heard that this was the first major race that Big Brown had NOT had a steroid shot beforehand. From what she was saying, the trainer thought he could prove something by Big Brown winning without it.

Wonder if there is any merit to this?

Edited: Looked this up, and seems like some pretty widespread information on it. Hard to not think it was a contributing factor to his poor performance at Belmont, and phenomenal performances at the Derby and Preakness. May be unfair, but it will certainly influence the judgement of many.

Big Brown will run Belmont Stakes without steroids, his trainer says

By JOE DRAPE The Associated PressPublished: June 5, 2008

Big Brown will begin the Belmont Stakes from the No. 1 post position. The big bay colt is a prohibitive 2-5 favorite to win the 140th running of the Belmont Stakes on Saturday and become only the 12th Triple Crown champion in history. Big Brown will also attempt to remain undefeated and gain immortality without his monthly steroid injection.

In fact, his trainer, Rick Dutrow, said Big Brown had not received the anabolic steroid Winstrol since April 15, when he was stabled in Florida.

"The horse had been doing so good, and is doing so good, I don't want to screw things up," Dutrow said. "I haven't changed any routine."

Dutrow said that he usually gave his horses an injection of Winstrol - which is legal in 28 of the 38 states where horse racing is held, including the three states holding Triple Crown races - on the 15th of each month. He said he did not give his horses steroids when they were not in training.

In Big Brown's case, he missed 90 days of training with a wall separation in his front hooves. He then received an injection of Winstrol when he returned to the racetrack in February and was injected again in March and in April.

Michael Iavarone, a co-president of International Equine Acquisitions Holdings, which is one of the owners of Big Brown, acknowledged that the accomplishments of his colt had been questioned by some critics because of the injections of Winstrol, the same anabolic steroid that the sprinter Ben Johnson tested positive for in 1988, causing him to be stripped of his gold medal in the Seoul Olympics.

"But Rick has said, and we have believed all along, that Big Brown is phenomenally talented and has not needed any performance-enhancing drugs," Iavarone said in discussing the decision to not use steroids since April.

Trainers have found that steroids provide a boost for horses who are not eating well or are listless, and also aid in muscle recovery after rigorous workouts.

If Big Brown does win the Triple Crown without any steroid injections in the five-week stretch of the three races, the question would be whether the horse's critics would be somewhat mollified

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Rumor: My wife is a horse racing nut, and she had heard that this was the first major race that Big Brown had NOT had a steroid shot beforehand. From what she was saying, the trainer thought he could prove something by Big Brown winning without it.

Wonder if there is any merit to this?

Could be. Since steriods are legal in horse racing, it reasonable to think that while Big Brown was off them, the other horses were still on them. More than likely steriods will be illegal next year though.

Also, I don't think Big Brown being off steriods is a rumor. I've heard from several media outlets.

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A co-worker of mine who is big into horse racing, says that there is often times when a horse simply doesn't feel like racing. He didn't suggest thats what happend but he said its one of those things that you really wont know why the horse didn't win it really could of been anything

I have been riding horses my whole life. I wanted to be a jocky, til at age 13 grew 6 inches. But I did rodeo, barrel racing for years.

The idea that a horse "just doesn't feel like it" is true, at least in my experience. There was an occasion or two where I could tell my horse just wasn't in the mood to do much. We have those days too, but we also have thinking brains and can get ourselves out of those moods. Animals are unfortunately not like that.

But then they have days that will amaze you. Once my horse ran a personal best time and we found out the next day she had several pieces of broken bone in her ankle.

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or it could simply be that the belmont is longer and more akin to an endurance race than the other two competitions. hence, why its so difficult to win the triple crown. the final race is a different type of race.

I believe only one horse in the field had ever ran the Belmont ( think it was Guadalcanal) so it makes sense that a horse would not be able to endure the 1 1/2 if it had not ran it before. Big Brown maybe was just being a horse and figured, "Not today I won't".

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That owner should be praising Desormeaux, not calling him out. Sure Dutrow didn't win the Triple Crown or the 100 mil that goes with it, but he could have lost everything including the 70 mil he can get from breeding Big Brown.

If that horse goes down because the jockey lets the horse go and it is injured, not only is it a national travesty and an even larger scandal, Dutrow loses out on that money and on that stage...that could have been trouble for horse racing.

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When they moved him from stall 8 to the pre-race barn, he was all uptight, kicking hard. Big Brown was not happy at all. I think it was just too hot.

For the trainer to say it's Kent's fault is a joke. He saw the horse acting up. He knew he wasn't trained the way he wanted to because of the quarter crack. Screw him.

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The crazy thing was during the televised coverage after the race all they did was talk about the horse that came in last place. This is America. We like winners. Don't give all the attention to the horse that lost!

There's a reason there hasn't been a triple crown winner in 30 years. The Belmont Stakes is a long, grueling race.

The stupid mediots were trying to uncover some kind of conspiracy.

Pssst. Guess what? Big Brown wasn't the fastest horse that day.

That's all.

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