California Chrome owner a sore loser
By Beth Harris, AP
NEW YORK — California Chrome went home to the West Coast on Sunday with a bandaged right front foot — and no Triple Crown — after bumping another horse leaving the Belmont Stakes starting gate.
Steve Coburn, who co-owns California Chome, was still smarting, too.
He was irked Belmont winner Tonalist didn’t run in either of the first two legs of the Triple Crown. After the race, he complained others took “the coward’s way out” by skipping the Derby and/or the Preakness.
A day later, Coburn was unrepentant.
“It’s not fair to these horses that are running to entertain these people in all three legs of the Triple Crown,” he said. “It’s not fair to them to have somebody just show up at the last minute and run. I may have gone off half-cocked yesterday, but that’s the way I feel.”
Under Coburn’s premise, there would have been just three horses in the $1.5 million Belmont, making it unlikely the third-largest crowd of 102,199 would have shown up or that a record $19,105,877 would have been wagered on-track.
California Chrome, General a Rod and Ride On Curlin were the only horses to run in the Derby, Preakness and Belmont. General a Rod finished seventh and Ride On Curlin did not finish.
Art Sherman, the 77-year-old trainer of California Chrome, distanced himself from Coburn’s comments.
“Horses aren’t cowards and the people aren’t cowards,” he said. “He was at the heat of the moment. Don’t forget he’s a fairly new owner. Sometimes your emotions get in front of you. He hasn’t been in the game long and hasn’t had any bad luck.”
Coburn and Perry Martin named their racing operation Dumb Ass Partners, with California Chrome the lone horse in their stable. The chestnut colt has earned $3,317,800 this year and brought a six-race winning streak into the Belmont.
California Chrome had smooth trips in winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness to set up a shot at racing’s first Triple Crown in 36 years. But he had a rough trip in the 1 1/2-mile Belmont on Saturday, getting a chunk of flesh torn from his foot after bumping with Matterhorn coming out of the starting gate. California Chrome finished in a dead heat for fourth with Wicked Strong.
“It was kind of scary. You come back and see a horse bleeding from the foot,” Sherman said. “He’s never had anything wrong with him. We’ve been awful fortunate.”
Sherman said California Chrome has a superficial wound that should heal in two to three weeks. The colt will then rest for six to seven weeks after a tough Triple Crown campaign that involved running in three races at different tracks and distances over five weeks.
His camp plans to point him toward the Breeders’ Cup this fall at Santa Anita.
Sherman thought Coburn would apologize for his comments. Instead, the outspoken co-owner went even further Sunday.
“It wouldn’t be fair if I played basketball with a child in a wheelchair because I got an unfair advantage,” Coburn said. “If your horse is good enough to run in the Belmont, where was he in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness? It says Triple Crown, not one out of two, one out of three or two out of three.”
Sherman said, “I can’t make excuses. That’s not really what you should do in these type of races.”
Frenchman Christophe Clement, who won his first Triple Crown race with Totalist, declined to comment on Coburn’s remarks.
Coburn had predicted California Chrome would win the Triple Crown.
“If they want to call me a sore loser, I don’t care,” he said.
Horses are made eligible for the Triple Crown races in January. Owners and trainers of horses not nominated can pay a late fee of $6,000 in March to get in. The 20-horse field for the Kentucky Derby is decided by a points system, with horses earning points for running in prep races. The Preakness and Belmont have maximum fields of 14, but no points system is used.
It’s common for horses to drop in and out of the Triple Crown series. In 1978, when Affirmed won the Triple Crown, the Belmont had a five-horse field. Two of the colt’s rivals did not run in the first two legs and one only ran in the Derby.
In 1977, Seattle Slew won the Triple Crown. The Belmont had eight horses, and five did not run in the first two legs. One ran only in the Preakness, and one other besides Slew raced in all three legs.
On Saturday, second-place finisher Commissioner was new to the Triple Crown series. Winner Tonalist wasn’t ready for the Derby, so trainer Clement prepared him for the Belmont.
“California Chrome was running with tough, fresh horses that were waiting in the wings, and that’s what happens,” Sherman said. “We all know when you’re on this trail you got to have an iron horse.”
The veteran trainer hopes California Chrome’s owners will keep him running next year as a 4-year-old. He credited the colt for having a lot of talent and taking his handlers on an exciting ride.
“This is one of them races that we couldn’t win,” Sherman said, “but he didn’t disgrace us any.”
Since only one horse can win the triple crown after the Kentucky Derby, and often none is eligible after the Preakness, what would be the incentive for any owner besides the eligible one to run the Preakness and reduce his chances of winning Belmont.
If there’s a rule change, it ought to be to require an owner to be at least marginally smarter than his horse.
Unsaid in all this is that if there were only three horses from the earlier two legs of the Triple Crown, Mr. Coburn should at least have made the point that to run three exceptional races in a six-week period makes it exceedingly tough for any horse to win the Triple Crown – as adding a number of fresh horses is the challenge, along with the extra length (1 1/2). . .so it a bit of ‘sour grapes’ not to acknowledge that. . .
I think California Chrome did exceptionally well under those circumstances, and did them proud, finishing as well as could be expected absent being a Super-horse for $ 10,500. . .with millions to come. . .
I believe Mr. Coburn was being disengenuous to use the phrase “entertain these people” in his mini tirade too. He is really upset for lost money he sees as rightfully his. Not happy with the 3 plus million he’s won so far, I suppose. Poor Baby.
A bit of an entitlement issue here it seems.
Both the owner AND his horse need trainers.
Mr. Sherman is the true gentleman in this instance.
I am unclear on what the racing protocol was for the other 11-horses that have won the Triple Crown. Was it a requirement that only horses that ran in the Derby and Preakness could run in the Belmont, or was the protocol the same as now where fresh horses could compete for the Belmont Stakes who’d not run in either of the first two Triple Crown races? If there’s been no protocol change from those 11-Triple Crown winners I don’t think there should be a change now. What would have made those horses so great was that they ran against fresh horses and were still so exceptional that they beat them. I think that’s why there are so few Triple Crown winners and don’t think the way it’s been done should be changed just so they’ll be more. That would denigrate the accomplishments of those 11-horses who’d won a really esteemed honor.
And for the record I bet California Chrome to win the Triple Crown before he ran the Derby. I really thought he’d pull it out. Still a great horse though.
Spouse – 4-mer-usmc
Spouse,
Good question, the answer is that there has never been a rule that Mr Coburn is stressing about.
NBC showed a stat that there were more horses in the past who skipped and then challenged in later TC races.
He knew the rules coming in to this thing and he must have missed that most important of lessons in his youth, win or lose…. do it graciously.
A couple of TV programs this last month have shown the ugly truth of what goes on behind the scenes at a horse race. Two dozen horses die each week on American racetracks because they are over-medicated (often illegally) many dropping dead from a heart attack induced by these medications. Try to watch Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel and 60 Minutes Sports.
Blue Jeans:
I’ve heard of some really horrible things that take place at dog shows too. People can be extremely disappointing and very cruel in the actions they’re willing to take and what they’ll do to innocent animals all for the glorification of their own egos.
Spouse – 4-mer-usmc
Dear Spouse, You are entirely correct about dog shows. In April Real Sports (HBO) exposed that “sport” too. Bulldogs, for example, have been bread to such unnatural specifications that they cannot breed or give birth unassisted and have trouble breathing.