I am no expert on horse racing, actually know very little. I, like the rest of the country got interested this year, in the history of the horse, his owners, and he was becoming every ones favorite. Years ago, while on shore patrol duty at the Tijuana border, got to know some "regulars" going to the track. One in particular gave me some good "tips." Did well and won a lot of money on them. We used to meet in the mornings at the San Ysidro Motel dining room, for breakfast. He gave me a few pointers, I used them recently. And, I was right. I did not even watch the Belmont, I felt the dream was ending .........
BELMONT, N.Y. – Steve Coburn set a new standard for sore losers Saturday, but his timing was impeccable.
Plenty of people hated the fact that the co-owner of California Chrome shot off his mouth like a Roman candle just minutes after his colt lost at the Belmont Stakes. But what better time to get the attention of the nation focused on how to fix a broken Triple Crown? It was a topic on CNN, NBC and plenty of other national platforms Sunday.
Considering the breadth of discussion in the aftermath of yet another Belmont buzzkill, I'd say Coburn did a great job reaching his audience.
Buried beneath the shock value of calling the connections of winning horse Tonalist "cowards" and "cheaters" is the substance of a strong argument. Coburn's horse was asked to perform what has become the unnatural – and, in my opinion, the impossible. We won't see another Triple Crown winner until the format is changed.
I don't agree with Coburn's assertion that horses should not be allowed to skip legs of the Triple Crown. It's not realistic to limit the pool for the three races to the 20 who enter the Kentucky Derby – the attrition would leave us with an even punier Preakness and a threadbare Belmont. In an ideal world, the top horses in the nation would compete in all three races – but that doesn't fit with the modern reality of horse racing.
Which is why changing the calendar is the best solution.
The hidebound traditionalists who have helped diminish racing to fringe-sport status will fight it to the death. But we may actually be approaching a tipping point in the push to space out the dates of the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont.
Currently, they are five weeks apart – the Derby on the first Saturday in May, the Preakness two weeks later and the Belmont three weeks after that. Maryland Jockey Club president Tom Chuckas is pushing to move the Preakness to the first Saturday in June, and hoping the Belmont will follow suit and move to the first Saturday in July – or, my preference, to the Fourth of July.
It would give the best horse a fighting chance on a more level playing field, but I'm not sure it would make the task of winning all three races easier. Right now, the Preakness is pretty close to a walkover because so many horses skip it to wait for the Belmont, which has become a trap favoring the well-rested and New York-based horses. Filling all three races with high-level competitors would hardly lessen the task.
