Sports - From the Bushes to the Big Apple

I did not begin to drink until the paper came out and I discovered I sent Saratoga Today a rough draft instead of the finished copy. I apologize to my readers and most of all, I apologize for not capitalizing Affirmed’s name. He remains one of my favorite horses of all time.

Did you know Big Brown has a quarter crack? You would have to be far removed from the media to miss that news. According to Dutrow “no foot, no horse” does not apply and with his talented hoof specialist applying his magic patch, he could be right. A really good horse lends tremendous confidence; they are so full of themselves that it’s easy to believe they can beat all comers. That’s what makes horseracing! But you can rest assured other trainers realize the added risk Big Brown faces and more of them will have the courage to enter the Belmont Stakes. The race will be more interesting now.

Back in ‘97, Bob Baffert may have disregarded Touch Gold when that colt popped a quarter crack. Dave Hofmans had to miss several days of training with the bay colt and did not work him between the Preakness and Belmont. Ian McKinlay (Big Brown’s blacksmith) patched Touch Gold’s foot and you can bet that Baffert and the Lewis’ wish he had not done so quite so successfully. Touch Gold won the Belmont and denied Silver Charm the Triple Crown.

Dutrow reported he had to get Big Brown back to the track to preserve his sanity. “He doesn’t know why he’s not going to the track,” he said. People who have never been around racehorses often ask if horses like to race. Yes, most well prepared horses not only like it, they love it, and that is not limited to the marquee horses. I remember when I first started racing at the small bush tracks; one of the first horses I was around was a Utah-bred gelding by the name of Hard Lines.

We were racing at Prescott Downs in Arizona, week-ends in the summer. In that little mountain town a class horse was one who could go to Turf Paradise in the winter and win a $5000 claimer. Hard Lines was 13-years old when I first knew him and anytime he missed racing for more than a week, he got mean as a snake. I loved that horse. He was a tight-twisted, pretty little bay and not really little at all, but so well balanced that he seemed so. He had run well over a hundred times and still looked and acted like a young horse. He was retired from racing at 14 and sent back to Utah. He became a wonderful roping horse. When I saw Hard Spun, it was more than the similarities in names that took me back. Too bad he couldn’t have stayed around longer, he clearly liked his job.

For those of you apprehensive about racing and suspect only the good ones receive loving care, I gratefully report you are wrong. Some small numbers of horsemen do not treat their horses fairly but a larger problem in the industry is the guys on the other side of the track (racetrack management). They often have far too limited knowledge about the horse’s role in the business and they consistently deliver poor hospitality to fans. They mismanage the product which furnishes their jobs. It is a very sad circumstance. They are the ones who favor the few good horses and ignore or even mistreat the others.

Racing horses is not just a YUM-YUM, big hat, celebrity-sighting, governor-speaking, kind of a thing. It’s about competitive animals that willingly lay their lives on the line to please their handlers, and in the process generate huge tax dollars, give tracks a reason to exist and stimulate the economy in countless other ways. For most people in the hands-on end of the business, it’s their love for animals that put them there. I just wanted to cry when I watched Larry Jones, Gabriel Saez and the whole racing side of the industry get reamed for the Eight Belles tragedy. My heart hurt for the filly and her connections and my sensibilities screamed for the way the aftermath was handled. Michael Iavarone did the right thing by acknowledging the tragedy but the others near microphones in the winners’ circle were an embarrassment. The wrong end of the business received the blunt of this unfortunate accident. Agreed, breeders and agents buying horses should indeed look at her pedigree, lessons to be learned are there.

Hopefully the Belmont will be much better in every way. I am a New Yorker and I want to be proud of my state, its’ racing industry and the breeding program.