No Triple Crown This Year...

[Frank Capua]

I was looking forward to watching it live but now I can't come up with a reason to bother to put it on the DVR. Bummersvile!

[comfortably numb]

I'll be watching, but that's what I do.
I didn't stop enjoying golf when Tigger went on the shelf.

[Snow61]

I'll be watching, but that's what I do.
I didn't stop enjoying golf when Tigger went on the shelf.

Is Tigger on the shelf next to Pooh?

[don7031]

I wonder if Secretariot was juiced. The fact that almost 40 years later with improved training no horse has broken the records for the Derby or Belmont make me wonder.

When autopsied, Secretariat's heart was found to be beyond abnormally large. It was almost three times the size of a normal horse's heart.

[MoparsRule]

Wonder how many dvr's have been reprogrammed since thia news broke?

[BADGER]

I thought all racing horses doped. I thought that was actually supposed to be part of the sport.

Actually, up until 2009, it was legal in most states and in all the triple crown races. As far as that big heart, one side effect of steroids is an oversized heart. A little read suggests there was a good chance steroids were used in horse racing in the 70s and it was allowed in horse racing till about 2009. Big Brown tanked in the Belmont after the horse was taken off roids even though the trainer could have kept using them legally.

[Truth Detector]

I was talking with my dad about this yesterday. Dad was a part-time pharmacist back in the 70s and 80s. He remembered having a guy come into his store to buy a very large quantity of some kind of prescription-only medicine. Dad asked him the second time he came into the store what exactly the prescription was for. The guy admitted to dad that he was a horse trainer and he was using the medicine on his horses. Unfortunately he didn't remember the drug, but he did remember looking it up and seeing that doping horses was one LEGAL use for it.

Gotta believe if small town trainers were doping then there is reason to believe the big timers were too.

[Ernest Miller]

You absolutely do not what you are talking about.
There is nothing tainted about the horse. You think he hasn't passed any drug tests?
But that you think taking care of a horse's well being is a coverup you are just flaming.

It is a very naive way to look at things if you don't think cheating goes on in horse racing with doping a horse being at the top of the list. Its nothing new. Over forty years ago Dancer's Image was disqualified after winning the Kentucky Derby for using a drug that was illegal in Kentucky. (I believe a few years later after a lengthy court battle they were allowed to keep the winner's share of the purse.) You would probably be shocked to find out (I'm not) how many leading trainers have been suspended over the years for doping some of their horses. The list includes some of the top trainers in the country like Todd Pletcher and Steve Asmussen. Other ways to cheat include stuffing sponges up the horse's nostrils or using a jolt. (Electric whip to shock the horse) And then the old fashion way of three or four jockeys getting together and holding their horses back. And who can forget the execution of the great horse Alydar for the insurance money. Scandal and horse racing go hand in hand. Its always been that way. So spare me the talk of about how this particular trainer cares so much for his horses. If he did he wouldn't be injecting them with all sorts of illegal drugs. Thats not my opinion, thats the horse racing steward's finding. Ernest

[Ernest Miller]

I was talking with my dad about this yesterday. Dad was a part-time pharmacist back in the 70s and 80s. He remembered having a guy come into his store to buy a very large quantity of some kind of prescription-only medicine. Dad asked him the second time he came into the store what exactly the prescription was for. The guy admitted to dad that he was a horse trainer and he was using the medicine on his horses. Unfortunately he didn't remember the drug, but he did remember looking it up and seeing that doping horses was one LEGAL use for it.

Gotta believe if small town trainers were doping then there is reason to believe the big timers were too.

Good post. Ernest

[stnkypete]

If you assume pretty much every athlete is doping, you're not shocked or disappointed on the rare instances when they get caught. I mean, a couple years ago a guy in ping pong got dinged for doping. Yeah it's cynical but it beats being disappointed.

[Indyknut]

Just saw the announcement.

Dang. It would be nice to have a triple crown winner after so many years.

[BigWheelHawaii]

Dad was a part-time pharmacist back in the 70s and 80s.

.

Alooha Detecto,,,

I had an ex-girlfriend that was a part time pharmacist back in
the late 60s and early 70s, she mostly worked the Tenderloin,
between "Bush" and "Post", but sometimes all the way down to
Polk and O'Farrell... Not sure this was her main stay of employment...
As I remember, she also worked part time for the City of San
Francisco,,, some thing like a "Welcome Wagon Hostess", mainly
meeting businessmen for "orientation" ,,, sometimes at the
"Top of the Mark", but mostly at the Ambassador Hotel...


They must of been great jobs, she always had a lot of money...

Big,,,

[comfortably numb]

It is a very naive way to look at things if you don't think cheating goes on in horse racing with doping a horse being at the top of the list. Its nothing new. Over forty years ago Dancer's Image was disqualified after winning the Kentucky Derby for using a drug that was illegal in Kentucky. (I believe a few years later after a lengthy court battle they were allowed to keep the winner's share of the purse.) You would probably be shocked to find out (I'm not) how many leading trainers have been suspended over the years for doping some of their horses. The list includes some of the top trainers in the country like Todd Pletcher and Steve Asmussen. Other ways to cheat include stuffing sponges up the horse's nostrils or using a jolt. (Electric whip to shock the horse) And then the old fashion way of three or four jockeys getting together and holding their horses back. And who can forget the execution of the great horse Alydar for the insurance money. Scandal and horse racing go hand in hand. Its always been that way. So spare me the talk of about how this particular trainer cares so much for his horses. If he did he wouldn't be injecting them with all sorts of illegal drugs. Thats not my opinion, thats the horse racing steward's finding. Ernest

This post is a prime example as to why you are so loved around here.
First you call me naive.
Then you assert that I would probably be shocked because you assume you know so much more than me.
Then you go on a discourse about the ways people cheat in racing.
All the while completely ignoring the fact that nothing 'tainted' has been found with respect to I'll Have Another.
In the meantime, Doug O'Neal is continuing fighting his suspension of an incident which occurred almost 2 years ago.
So spare me your self-grandiose.
I'm glad nothing shocks you---except for pictures of Helio.

[Kurt Cobain]

Well there's always Matt Kemp if he stays healthy and gets really hot like he did last year. Oops, wrong sport.

[stnkypete]

I'm glad nothing shocks you---except for pictures of Helio.

And pictures of girls

[Cosworth]

Would off paid me off if:
Painters jockey Mike Smith would of changed hands when Union Rags came up the inside and took his whip away.
Pilot error, completley abandoned the whip once Union rags took it away, not changing to a right whip was a big mistake.
Mistake #2
Coming off rail

[comfortably numb]

I don't know if the jocks 'thought' the rail was dead, but Union Rags getting thru cost me the Tri.

[Frank Capua]

They say that steroids is what has killed the Triple Crown... That the horses have gotten too big after decades of breeding juiced horses to survive the rigors of racing that many times in such a brief span of time. They say that their ankles are too small to carry that weight.

But "they" also say that "I'll Have Another" was scratched because he was gonna have too much legal medicene in him, what his trainer is being suspended for already.

[Jim Wilke]

I'll Have Another became I've Had Enough.

[Ernest Miller]

This post is a prime example as to why you are so loved around here.
First you call me naive.
Then you assert that I would probably be shocked because you assume you know so much more than me.
Then you go on a discourse about the ways people cheat in racing.
All the while completely ignoring the fact that nothing 'tainted' has been found with respect to I'll Have Another.
In the meantime, Doug O'Neal is continuing fighting his suspension of an incident which occurred almost 2 years ago.
So spare me your self-grandiose.
I'm glad nothing shocks you---except for pictures of Helio.

Tell me again why this trainer should be trusted. Ernest http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/11/sp...pagewanted=all

[Frank Capua]

"the prestigious Illinois Derby..."

If something was pretigious you'd think you would have heard of it before.