Sports news from racingfigures.com / triple

Not to the press -- "I gave my interview after the race, and I really have nothing more to say," said the jockey (NYT) -- but with trainer Rick Dutrow and the stewards. Dutrow said he and the rider are "back on target" (Blood-Horse) after meeting this morning at Aqueduct to discuss the Belmont. As for the stewards, Demormeaux spoke with them for about 20 minutes early this afternoon. It is uncertain what action, if any, the officials might -- or should -- take....

ESPN commentator Pat Forde gleefully kicks a down Dutrow: How now does it feel to be the freshly humbled fool of thoroughbred racing, after your waltz to the Triple Crown turned into a disaster, a last-place finish, a Brownout? How now do you justify all the obnoxious bragging about your horse, Big Brown? How now do you possibly answer for having flagrantly disrespected the difficulty of the task before you? You remember, babe: Winning the Belmont and the first Triple Crown in 30 years was a "foregone conclusion." You dismissed the field by saying, "These horses just cannot run with...

Unpressured, allowed to coast through the first two quarters in :48.30, three quarters in 1:12.90, and the mile in 1:37.96, Da' Tara wrapped up the Belmont in 2:29.65, the slowest final time since Sarava in 2002, for which he was assigned a Beyer speed figure of 99, the lowest in the past 15 years: Trainer Nick Zito said the unexpected winner would be pointed to the Jim Dandy and Travers this summer, along with stablemate Anak Nakal, who finished in a deadheat for third with Todd Pletcher-trainee Ready's Echo....

- Two races into the card and it looks -- as Paul Moran surmised it would, reporting earlier today that the "maintenance crew scraped the surface on Friday and the course was inexplicably sealed at about 9 a.m." -- as though we have a faster surface than we've seen all week at Belmont. In the first, Desert Key wired, getting the first half in :45.12 and finishing in 1:08.80, while in the second, maiden Sixthirteen squeaked out a similar run, flying through a half in :44.80 and wrapping up 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:16.70. In both races, the place horse...

To me, winning the Triple Crown is a self-fulfilling accomplishment. That is, doing it is enough. While the fact that no horse behind Big Brown in either of his Grade 1 victories has run better than 100 Beyer or earned a Ragozin figure better than a "5" certainly speaks to the inferiority of this crop in a general basis, I have been impressed by the way Big Brown has won his races: He's winning by open lengths, overcoming obstacles, and making it look easy. Other than Big Brown, there doesn't appear to be any world beaters in today's Belmont Stakes,...

Casino Drive is an early scratch from this afternoon's Belmont Stakes due to a bruised left hind hoof: Racing manager Nobutaka Tada said Casino Drive was fine during a three-furlong jog early Saturday, but he appeared to be favoring the hoof while receiving a bath following the workout. The injury, initially reported on Friday, is considered minor. 10:15 a.m. oddity: TwinSpires accurately shows Casino Drive as scratched and won't process a bet on the horse, but NYRA's online wagering service currently shows Casino Drive at 5-1 and did let me bet $2 to win on #5. Wow, that seems like...

Handicapping and blogging, beginning around 11:00 a.m....

PPHorseJockeyML1Big BrownDesormeaux2-52GuadacanalCastellano50-13Macho AgainGomez20-14Denis of CorkAlbarado12-15Casino DrivePrado7-26Da' TaraGarcia30-17Tale of EkatiCoa20-18Anak NakalLeparoux30-19Ready's EchoVelazquez30-110Icabad CraneRose20-1 A surprise entrant, favored Big Brown in post one -- intrigue!...

Big Brown breezed five furlongs in 1:00.03, and galloped out six furlongs in 1:14.40, shortly after the renovation break at Belmont this morning. A crowd of onlookers observed the move, which was done without a patch on Big Brown's cracked front hoof (final repairs are planned for Friday) and elicited predictable praise from trainer Rick Dutrow -- "We're very happy with things right now" (Blood-Horse). Questions and concerns burble elsewhere, adding intrigue to Saturday's foregone conclusion. NYRA expects to draw a field of nine on Wednesday for the Belmont Stakes, but don't look for an afternoon post position draw show...

Secretariat, that is. (Forgive the self-promotional link, it's not every day I get quoted in the company of such luminaries as William Nack and Ed Bowen.)...

... on both counts. Said trainer Rick Dutrow in today's NTRA teleconference: I have been trying to be humble and modest ... I don't feel like I'm talking big, I feel like I'm talking facts. And earlier in the call: I feel like it's a foregone conclusion. I expect [Big Brown] to win this race. I will give Dutrow this: He is charismatic, his confidence is compelling. And he hasn't been wrong about Big Brown yet....

Jockey Edgar Prado, named to ride Casino Drive in the Belmont Stakes, knows how to dash Triple Crown dreams: He has ridden in eight Belmont Stakes and has two victories to his credit, with both scores -- in 2002 aboard Sarava and in 2004 with Birdstone -- spoiling the respective Triple Crown bids of War Emblem and Smarty Jones. He's the perfect rider for Big Brown's presumed main rival. Casino Drive, looking "elegant," half-worked, half-galloped in a time too slow to officially credit on Wednesday morning at Belmont. "He doesn't need to go fast," said racing manager Nobutaka Tada (DRF)....

Farrier Ian McKinlay answers press questions at Belmont on Monday morning after working on the quarter crack in Big Brown's left front hoof. Big Brown was back on track this morning, jogging a mile and half around Belmont. Trainer Rick Dutrow, who said on Monday morning that if the colt's hoof showed improvement Tuesday he would probably have Big Brown walked under tack around the shedrow instead of resuming training, told the AP the change of plans was good for Big Brown's head: "He's been kind of aggravated. He don't know why he's not going to the track. He...

The backstretch whispers were true: Big Brown has a "minor" quarter crack in his left front hoof, Rick Dutrow announced this morning, and although the undefeated colt has already missed two days of training and will likely miss three more, Dutrow remains optimistic about his chances in the Belmont Stakes two weeks from now. "The horse is in no discomfort, he doesn't even know anything is wrong," he told reporters. "Missing a few days of training is not going to hurt us at all" (NYT). Maybe this won't be the year the Triple Crown drought comes to an end after...

- Racing journalism has its problems, but access to the sport's (human) stars isn't one. In this way, at least, being a niche sport benefits fans and writers, unlike baseball. - The Quick-Pick inquiry spreads, wild finger pointing begins, and a California state legislator notices that there's no independent wagering monitor. Uh oh. - Pittsburg Phil, Noted Plunger, Passes Away. Consumption, such a shame. He was just at Ascot last year. - Dutrow has yet to confirm post-Belmont plans for Big Brown with IEAH, but he's considering the Travers and the Breeders' Cup Classic. Curlin vs. Brown -- we can...

I've been accused of late, in emails and comments, of not being properly enthusiastic about Big Brown, so let me give the horse his due: Big Brown is a phenomenal talent, a freak, and he would be coming out of any barn. He's dominated every start, he's shown that he can rate or lead, that he can break from the inside or the outside. He accelerates effortlessly, and he displays qualities exhibited by past great racehorses -- he makes every race look like his own and every horse he beats look second-rate. I hope he wins the Triple Crown. It's...

In slightly more than two weeks, Big Brown will attempt to become the 12th Triple Crown winner, the first in 30 years and only the second undefeated. In this brief lull before Belmont Stakes anticipation explodes, it seems worthwhile to take a quick look back at the last three ... The Rivals It began during their 1977 2-year-old campaigns and continued through every Triple Crown race. In 1978, the story was the rivalry of Affirmed and Alydar, which reached its apex in the one mile match race that unfolded during the Belmont Stakes: ">At the end: Affirmed's head is in...

- Tale of Ekati worked for the first time since finishing fourth in the Kentucky Derby, zipping four furlongs in :46.84 at Belmont on Tuesday morning. "He went a little faster than we wanted, but he did it easy," said assistant trainer Robin Smullen, who confirmed that the Belmont Stakes was the colt's next likely start. "We realize that Big Brown is a very salty customer, but Tale of Ekati is doing awfully well" (DRF). Along with Tale of Ekati, two other Derby starters are likely -- Denis of Cork and Anak Nakal -- as are two Preakness starters --...

- About 75 reporters, photographers, and gawkers were waiting for Big Brown and his entourage at Belmont when the colt arrived by van from Pimlico early Monday afternoon to settle into a stall in trainer Bobby Frankel's barn, where he'll await the final leg of the Triple Crown. With a little less than three weeks to go and many column inches to fill, silly season is open, Vic Ziegel reports in the Daily News: But my favorite question for the Big Brown group, on its horse's first day back in New York, was asked of Michael Iavarone, the horse's co-owner:...

Absolutely nothing, of course. This idea that the sport needs a Triple Crown winner is laughable. So Big Brown wins the Triple Crown, Joe Public gets attached, and then never sees the horse again? How is that good for the sport? The idea that Big Brown winning the Triple Crown will make someone go check out the races at Grants Pass Downs or Yakima Meadows is akin to saying that someone breaking the world record for running a mile will make more people go to their local high school track meet. People want to see greatness, which is why 100,000-plus...