It appears that California Chrome was not the only newsmaker in his stable from Saturday’s Belmont Stakes.
The three-year-old colt with the modest pedigree got as close as any horse has in the past 36 years to winning a Triple Crown and forging a place in sporting immortality. Having dominated the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, California Chrome came out of the No. 2 gate Saturday and held a brief lead, only to falter and finish fourth, appearing to run out of gas for the first time in a dazzling seven week span.
And it’s that sputtering that drove Steve Coburn, one of California Chrome’s owners, to lash out in frustration. Coburn said his rival owners took "the coward’s way out" by failing to run in Louisville or here at Pimlico last month. Indeed, neither winner Tonalist nor second place finisher Commissioner ran in either the Derby or the Preakness before setting foot in New York to take on California Chrome. (Coburn later apologized).
Coburn’s complaint was that while California Chrome ran two exquisite--but grueling--races within weeks of each other, fresher horses had been allowed to skip the May races, and thus ruined his chance at history.
It should be noted that Tonalist was on course to run the Derby, but could not accumulate enough points after getting a throat infection in late April. Tonalist won a race at Belmont six days before the Preakness which qualified him for Saturday’s race.
But, to Coburn’s point, of the last 12 Belmont winners, only Afleet Alex, the 2005 winner, had also previously run in the Derby and the Preakness. Meanwhile, California Chrome became the 14th horse since Affirmed in 1978 to nuzzle history and be rebuffed.
Not surprisingly, Coburn’s criticism after the race Saturday struck many as hollow, as sour grapes. Harvey Araton of the New York Times said the 61-year-old "embarrassed himself," while Sports Illustrated’s Tim Laydenmore gently chided Coburn.
There are some who believe that the Triple Crown schedule of races running from the Derby on the first weekend of May to the Preakness two weeks later to the Belmont three weeks after that should be altered in the interest of producing a new super horse. The Maryland Jockey Club has proposed that the Derby remain where it is, but that the subsequent races be pushed back to the first weekends of June and July, respectively. The New York Racing Authority has yet to weigh in.
The larger question might be: why would we care about a Triple Crown winner anyway?
Once upon a time, horse racing, boxing and baseball were the three biggest sports in America. Clearly, that day has passed and only baseball truly still registers among those three. Our attention span has so shortened that it’s hard to imagine that a Triple Crown winner would resonate for longer than a weekend. These days, the love of fast horses have gone the way of the dinosaur. And like the dinosaur, Triple Crown winners aren’t likely to return.
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