Thursday, June 12, 2008
140th Belmont Stakes Thoughts and Opinions
This was my first time attending the Belmont Stakes so I did not know what to expect. To me it was more like two events that took place on the same day. The first event being a tremendous outdoor bar-b-q/party for kids between the ages of 16 and 26. The second event being the actual race itself. Obviously the first event was a lot of fun but will not be discussed here. I mainly want to talk about the stage itself and what happened with the race.
After two dominant wins at the Kentucky Derby and at the Preakness, Big Brown was the uncontested favorite leading up to the Belmont Stakes. In the weeks leading up to the final leg of the triple crown, Big Brown suffered a minor crack in his hoof. The injury was regarded as minor by trainer Rick Dutrow and Big Brown remained the favorite leading up to the race.
Big Brown cruises to victory at the Preakness
On race day, Big Brown was a 3-10 favorite and his biggest competition, Casino Drive was scratched on race day morning because of an injured hoof. It seemed as if the stars were aligned for Big Brown to be only the fourth ever triple crown winner and first since Affirmed in 1978.
The minutes leading up to the race were like no other sporting event that I had been to. It was so chaotic as people were racing in every different direction trying to get a glimpse at what many thought would be a historic race. There was such an unexplainable buzz of anticipation in the air but just before the gun went off everything went silent.
I was inside the stadium when the race began but it was so crowded that I had to stand on a seat just to get a look at the big screen located on the infield. I honestly could not tell what was happening but I knew Big Brown was horse number 1 and could see the order of the top three horses 6-4-1.
I had watched the Preakness on TV and listened to jockey Kent Desormeux recap Big Brown's victory. I remember him saying that he was holding the horse back for the first 3/4's of the race while he sat in third place and then let him go on the final turn.
I figured Desormeux would use the same strategy at Belmont and was just waiting for the 1 horse to be at the top of the leader board. Time seemed to go so slowly and the leader board seemed to not change at all. Eventually the number 1 dropped off the board completely.
The 6 horse, Da'Tara who opened the race in first, had finished as the winner. The horse closed at 38-1 odds. Big Brown did not even finish the race.
Some have pointed to the injured hoof as a possible reason for the horse's poor showing. Some have pointed to the fact that Dutrow who normally had been administering steroids such as Winstrol to the horse, stopped giving him the steroid just before the Preakness. Others have even brought up the idea of foul play being involved. When there is big money being bet, there is always the chance of a fixed race. Especially with the ongoing betting problems of NBA officials. The truth will probably never be told but the 2008 Belmont Stakes was a spectacular event and one can only hope that there was no foul play involved.
