Monday's column in which D. Wayne Lukas advocated altering the current Triple Crown format drew quite a few e-mails.
Some excerpts:
- Newton wrote, "No need to change triple crown – it's been run that way
for a long time and horses did it. Problem is clearly breeding /
training."
- J.R. wrote, "Good article. They have to do something, but if they're going to change the Triple Crown, they need to call it something else. Or better still, do away with the Preakness all together. Make it the K. Derby, the Belmont, and the Breeders Cup."
- Robert wrote, "There is a point about the Belmont that I haven’t seen made, and I’m asking myself why? First of all, Big Brown was off in his training. This leads to a very good chance the horse could show up for the race “rank.” Dutrow and the mental midget, Desormeaux, should have been aware of the fact. You don’t pull up a rank horse, you let him run. You’re in the number one post position, you at least within the first 250 ft know this horse is rank, let him go, it’s the only chance you have. Then you allow, Edgar Prado, on whatever nag he was on, push you to the middle of the track. Big Brown, simply quit, and I don’t blame him. Of more concern is that horses don’t forget. Desormeaux may have ruined this horse."
- Sam wrote, "Big Brown’s story dovetails with that of Eight Bells and the state of horseracing today.
As you wrote, ‘The horses of today are not the horses of yesteryear. The breed has changed. It is not nearly as robust. It's more susceptible to injury. It's bred for speed, not durability.’ However, instead of changing the races, as Lucas argues, it seems that the breeding habits need to change. Otherwise, horses will continue to lose stamina and be more susceptible to injury. This is not a quick fix, and probably meets opposition, but it offers long term benefits for the health of the racehorse and the sport."
- Jeff wrote, "think anytime the temperature is over 85 the race should be cancelled, so the poor horses, won't have to sweat and the Derby should be a 5 furlong sprint, so the horses won't get toooooooooooooooo tired for the other Triple Crown races.Give me a freaking break, the Triple Crown is not suppose to be easy. By the way, name me one horse in the past that ran all 3 races and dropped dead around the final turn at the Belmont? Big Brown is a decent horse in a year of pathetic 3 year olds, and never deserved being a Triple Crown winner."
- Mary wrote, "I found your story while surfing, and it sounds like poor Big Brown could have been
the Crown horse with a loving trainer. I get the feeling despite business aspect, these horses have
souls that should be honored and they KNOW what the people are thinking and feeling."
Changing the triple crown requirements is ridiculous. It’s a cop-out. It’s because people, like William Nack as quoted in your article, are “tired of waiting”. Boo hoo.
People remember that there were three crown winners in the 1970′s. They remember it as something pretty easy to do, but they forget that it was TWENTY FIVE YEARS between Secretariat and Citation. They also forget the incredible close calls since then such as Real Quiet losing on a head bob, or Silver Charm getting run down in the stretch, proving that the feat isn’t as otherworldly difficult as imagined. It’s just been awhile, and my guess is that the people clamoring for change now are a lot like that people that were clamoring for change in June of 1972; impatient.
With all that being said, Big Brown just seemed to have too much going against him. He didn’t train as he should have. He had a bad foot. Came out of the one-spot for the first time, had mud kicked at him for the first time. The heat. Longest race of his short career. Add all that to Desormeaux’s mishandling(stopping and starting, going the full 1 1/2 five wide) and Big Brown was doomed.
Of course, with the way he was handled during the race, the cheating history of Dutrow and the sleaze oozing from his owner combined with a 40-to-1 shot winning, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that this race was fixed.
The Triple Crown should not be changed. I think it is one of the toughets things to accomplish in all of sports. Just something hasn’t happened for 30 years doesn’t mean it should be changed. I think his foot problem was a factor because he may not have been able to train as he did for the Derby and Preakness. Like others, I feel like he wasn’t used to breaking in 1 spot and that the heat was a factor. Horses are intelligent animals. If something doesn’t feel right, they’re not going to do what you want. I think Desormeaux did the right thing by easing him. He didn’t want something to happen. I heard last night that Dutrow has placed the blame on Desormeaux and they have not spoken since the race. Typical Sports blame game. Always have to find someone to blame. That is the sad thing that comes out of all this and sports in general. ESPN does it and many others do it. Thought I’d never hear it in horse racing though. How can someone be blamed for something that no one is even sure why it happened in the first place?