ELMONT, N.Y. | Maryland native Rick Dutrow Jr. has called Big Brown winning today’s Belmont Stakes “a forgone conclusion.”
Evidently Dutrow hasn’t been paying much attention to the Belmont in general and Triple Crown near-misses in general the last three decades.
Dutrow says he has the best horse. He says post position doesn’t matter.
Those statements are true.
He says his horse is a lock.
That statement is not.
In a sport that produced the infamous saying, “It makes millionaires out of billionaires,” anything can happen.
Question: You mentioned Dutrow’s comments about Big Brown’s win being a given. Your take?
Answer: Nope and the reason is that there hasn’t been a Triple Crown winner in 30 years. Just recently, Real Quiet was probably moved a little too soon by jockey Kent Desormeaux, War Emblem stumbled out of the gate and Smarty Jones ran out of steam.
Q: Dutrow has been a polarizing figure during the last six weeks. What’s your take on giving horses steroids and big-time boasting?

washingtontimes.com

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Frank Whiteley Jr., the Hall of Famer who trained ill-fated racing filly Ruffian, died Friday in Camden. He was 93.
A man who answered Whiteley’s home and identified himself as Whiteley’s son, Alan, said the famed trainer had died. He did not want to give additional details or discuss his father’s career.
Although Whiteley saddled many champion horses, he’s probably remembered most for training Ruffian, the filly who began her career with 10 victories.
Ruffian’s last race was with Kentucky Derby winner Foolish Pleasure at Belmont Park on July 6, 1975. The horse shattered her right front ankle and did not survive the injury.
Whiteley became known to a later generation when Ruffian’s story was told in a 2007 ESPN original movie.
Besides Ruffian, Whiteley trained Damacus, the 1967 Horse of the Year, and Forego, who took the honor in 1976.

ap.google.com

First post Saturday at Churchill Downs is 11 a.m., seven hours and four minutes before the gates are scheduled to open for the 134th Kentucky Derby field. There are nine races before the Run for the Roses, including five consecutive stakes immediately preceding it. I’ll concentrate my other betting action on the four races before the Derby and see if I can hand out any winners.
Weather update: Rain, sometimes heavy, was expected Friday night, and there was a slight chance of showers for Saturday afternoon.
No track dries out as quickly as Churchill does, so wait until a half-hour before betting a race to find out the track condition.
6th race, Grade III La Troienne, 7½ furlongs: There are many front-runners here, and it’s tough to lead all the way, especially on a hot, contested pace, at this elongated sprint distance. GAME FACE, the likely favorite, can rate and fire, and if she’s a reasonable price, maybe I’ll play her. TIZ TO DREAM turns back from a win at 1 1/16 miles at Keeneland and also has the ability to track the pace.
7th race, Grade III Churchill Distaff Mile (turf): DREAMING OF ANNA, a very classy multiple-stakes winner, will be odds-on, and I can’t make a case for anybody to knock her off. I’ll just watch.
8th race, Grade I Humana Distaff, 7 furlongs: SUGAR SWIRL, 4-for-5 at the distance with excellent speed figures, is also 2-for-2 in slop, if that’s the track condition.
HYSTERICALADY is her main opponent and also likes it wet, and she almost won the Breeders’ Cup Distaff last fall at rainy Monmouth Park.
Looks like it will be one or the other, so maybe taking the better price is the move.
9th race, Grade I Woodford Reserve Turf Classic, 1 1/8 miles: This is always one of the classiest and most competitive grass stakes of the spring, and it begins a daily double with the Derby. I’m going to take another shot with WAR MONGER, who understandably faded to 10th after being five-wide almost all the way around the track in the Maker’s Mark Mile at Keeneland. He wasn’t going to beat Kip Deville that day, but he might have hit the board if he hadn’t lost all that ground. Instead of post 9, he gets No. 2, and I think Kent Desormeaux can work out a ground-saving trip on a colt with a strong late kick.

newsday.com

Tragedy struck the first filly in the Kentucky Derby since 1999, as Eight Belles went down on the track after her second-place finish today, broke two ankles, and was euthanized.
Showing a sisterhood with the female horse, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., during a trip to Louisville this week had said she was going to bet on Eight Belles to win, place, and show.
ABC News’ Karen Travers reports that Clinton told supporters in Jeffersonville, Ind., earlier this week, "I hope that everybody will go to the derby on Saturday and place just a little money on the filly for me. I won’t be able to be there this year — my daughter is going to be there and so she has strict instructions to bet on Eight Belles."
Travers also points out that Eight Belles’ trainer, Larry Jones, returned the love. "It looks like it could be the year for the girls," he said. "Eight Belles I’m sure would want to endorse."
The horse Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., picked to show — Big Brown — won the Derby.
Obama had picked Colonel John to win and Pyro to place.
Chelsea Clinton attended the Derby. Kentucky’s primary, which Clinton is favored to win, will be held on May 20.
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The saddest issue here has not even been mentioned. The billions of dollars spent in the horse racing industry has corruption than any other organization and you people reduce this to a political race.
If horses could talk (which they do on occasion!)they would say we are a bunch of selfish, egocentric idiots that are doing a good job of making fools of themselves.
My vote goes to Eight Belles who ran an amazing race for us humans and died trying.

blogs.abcnews.com

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. — In May 2003, he was THE horse, winner of the Kentucky Derby, showered with media attention, roses and glory.
Today, he is the most famous stable pony at any racetrack in the country.
Unlike other recent Derby winners, Funny Cide — a gelding — wasn’t rushed to stud duty after his 3-year-old season. Instead, he continued racing until last year, when he was retired at age 7.
Now, his job is to carry trainer Barclay Tagg or assistant Robin Smullen as they accompany active racers to and from morning workouts — and the “Funny Cide” saddle towel is all that signals the uninformed that they are in the presence of a champion.
“That’s probably a first and a last, for the winner of the Kentucky Derby,” said Hall of Fame trainer and Lexington, Ky., native Shug McGaughey.
A gelding hadn’t won the Derby since Clyde Van Dusen in 1929 until Funny Cide claimed the garland of roses five years ago at odds that paid $27.60 on a $2 win bet.
After he won by more than nine lengths in the Preakness Stakes, the racing world harbored high hopes that Funny Cide could become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978.
But he finished third in the Belmont Stakes after dueling with eventual winner Empire Maker.
In the years after that, Funny Cide remained a fan favorite — he won every year he raced, except when he was injured at 5, with victories in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, the Dominion Day Stakes and in the last race of his career, the $100,000 Wadsworth Memorial at Finger Lakes.
“We kind of reached a point where we said, ‘What more can he do for us?’ ” said Jack Knowlton, managing partner for Funny Cide’s owners, the Sackatoga Stable group known for riding to the 2003 Derby in a yellow school bus.

courier-journal.com