This guy would make Buddy Delp (Spectacular Bid’s trainer) to have seemed almost shy in his manner of espousing his colt’s chances of winning the third leg of the Triple Crown.  All the old-timers remember the irritating verbosity of Delp and the young, foolishly arrogant Ronnie Franklin regarding “The Bid’s” sure thing status to win the Triple Crown.  Of course back in the 70’s Triple Crown winners were a frequent thing and “Bid” looked all in the world like he would be the fourth of the decade.  It only took one little prick of a bandage pin to change the day and begin the 30-year drought without a Triple Crown winner.

You could almost forgive Delp (deceased Hall of Famer) because the Triple Crown in those days had become a common occurrence. But, Dutrow, a former Maryland trainer has come up seeing a different set of odds. There have been ten failed Triple Crown bids in the past 30 years. 

Look at all of the “should of, could of, would of’s” in that group.  It should make a man humble, but let’s face it humble and Dutrow in the same sentence would be long odds at any time. Few would dispute that Spectacular Bid was the best horse not to have won the Triple Crown. 

Sometimes it takes more to get that job done.

The whole press angle has been for the most part fun and lots of people root for a guy who knows the down and out story from actual experience. That’s great, always nice to see someone move up. I’m happy for the man but I worry that this team may not do too much to help the image of racing. The sport is already under a microscope and now we have a colt whose partial owner and spokesman has questionable financial ethics in his past and Big Brown is syndicated for stud duty and will leave the racing scene soon, maybe even after this race. This atop Dutrow’s reputation with drugs (his own and his horses) is perhaps not the best tonic this troubled industry needs. This is not a slam on anyone and particularly not on the horse, God knows he is an unusual talent and will deliver great excitement if he wins.

The racing industry is not so different from the way we are individually. All of us have a tendency to stay on the bright side of things when that option is available and when the crowd is cheering, it’s even more difficult to address the shady issues. The truths that are plaguing racing have too long been put behind other things. A Triple Crown would be very exciting and it will add some temporary momentum but it will not solve the myraid issues back at the barns, on the breeding farms and at the mutual windows.  Too many horses, too little legal stable help, too many drugs, too early retirement of high class horses and too few patrons, present real problems.

Racing needs to be careful, Triple Crown of not.  Gaming is racing right along. The tax demands of government are like water, they are going to flow the way of least resistance. It remains up to the owners of tracks and the decision makers in racing to dig in and dam up the problems to keep racing vibrant.  Every individual who derives his living from the industry has a level of personal responsibility to do the right thing. 

On Saturday let’s enjoy the Belmont but on Monday morning everyone knows what they need to do.