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Here's a closer look at the first two furlongs of the Belmont Stakes which, in my opinion, completely removes this blame off of the shoulders of Kent Desormeaux.
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Well - maybe concerning the start, Travis. But you can't deny that all reports indicate nothing is wrong with the horse.
Here is one thing that bothers me...Desormeaux never goes to an all-out drive on Big Brown and hit him twice (by my viewing of the video) with a light right-handed whip - and then he gave up.
That surely didn't cost him the win, but last I checked, I had 4,7,8,9 with ALL with 1, and 4,7,8,9 with 1 with ALL. Denis of Cork went by him easily, so I guess Kent's only chance was to hope for third, and I still wouldn't have won, but I was thinking Da' Tara could fade in the stretch.
If the jockey isn't riding out to the finish, why should anyone have the confidence to bet a trifecta or superfecta that involves Kent Desormeaux.
With the benefit of four nights sleep following this race and some good reflective time, I'm willing to say Kent didn't cost Big Brown the win, but undeniably, he never rode the horse to any level of a full drive, never went to the left-handed stick, nothing - applying the letter of the law, he did not make every attempt to get the best possible finish for his horse, and it only took him 5/16 of a mile to slow the horse completely.
I've seen this type of bewildering behavior from Desormeaux before and I'm not surprised it surfaced again - I think he really had rather finish last than fifth.
Concerning this race alone, however, Big Brown was not hitting the board. He was dropping through the pack like a brick in the tub.
I'd have said the same about Forefathers earlier in the card and he rerallied while under a drive for a good four furlongs.
So a couple of taps on the rear and Big Brown would have won the Triple Crown?
I just watched Forefathers again... he was never more than 3 lengths off the lead on the far turn. But going to a drive could just mean a horse who needs to be ridden. Big Brown is not.
You might find this interesting. It is Billy Turner's take on Desormeaux pulling up the horse, taken from Bill Nack's piece in Bloodhorse, titled "Drill Bits."
Quoting Bill Nack:
But (Billy) Turner, now 68, was stunned and even outraged by Kent Desormeaux’ ride aboard the horse, if indeed it can even be characterized as a ride.
“We had a disaster yesterday,” Turner said, after he finished training his stable of horses the day after the Belmont. “I’ll tell you one thing. You never, ever pull up a horse who’s structurally sound. No jock should ever pull up a horse in a classic race. If he had bobbled, that’s one thing. But he had a hard time pulling him up. When he did pull him up, he was sound! He took him out of the race. In the 1960s, ’70s, and even into the 1980s, the New York stewards would have run him (Desormeaux) out of New York and told him not to come back.”
Told that Desormeaux was getting accolades for protecting the horse, Turner blurted, “Protecting him from what?!”
“He was getting beat and he couldn’t stand it,” Turner said. “When I saw him pull up, I thought, ‘Oh, no! He’s broken down and the rider’s saving him.’ But then I saw him when he walked off and there was nothing wrong with the horse. The horse was happy. He would have beaten most of the horses in the Belmont…No wonder (trainer) Rick Dutrow had nothing to say after the race. What can you say? The stewards have got to do something to prevent this from becoming a regular practice. They can’t allow this kind of thing to go on.”
I love to stir up trouble, so here's more.
Go to the NYRA replays and look at Zaftig's May 3 race. It is race 8 on the card.
When they break from the gate she's on the pace for the first 100 yards, then begins to fall back. When the half-mile fraction goes up, she is all of the 2 and 3/4 lengths back as it says on the chart, despite hard-riding from her jockey. Watching the race, you have to believe she's done.
Nevertheless, she comes back, joins the leaders turning for home, and runs off to a huge win. If the jock had stopped persevering on the turn, what would have happened?
YOU make the call.
Big Brown was empty, but some horses do need to be ridden non-stop to get things done. Big Brown has never been this type of horse.
My whole post has nothing to do with pulling the horse up, it's about blaming Kent early on in the race.
Travis, click on the link to get a great picture of the start. This illustrates just how akwardly he broke.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/11/sports/othersports/11racing.html
Travis:
Your head on shot fails to show a critical piece of data: Kent was pulling on BB two strides out of the gate. He had made his mind up to yield the lead before the race began, rather than dynamically assess the situation as it unfolded, like any competent athlete would. Look at the traditional side view replay, and it is clear BB could have still made the lead if he was allowed to. Having said all this, cannot blame the loss on BB, just shocked to see a veteran jockey panic 5 seconds into a TC race.
I think the kicker though is that a 38-1 "hopeless" longshot is going to the front. So why risk you're 1-5 horse in a speed duel against him? He would have had to go sub-23 seconds, or right about that, to make up the lengths and take the lead. He might have quit down the backstretch instead of the far turn with a move like that.
"So why risk you're 1-5 horse in a speed duel against him?"
Maybe because the smart jockey who paid attention to what happened at Belmont all day would let his horse run and hang towards the inside as it was much better all day than the outside.
I don't know what I'm arguing it - because I still don't believe a blame is assigned to Desormeaux for losing - the horse didn't run on.
My BIG problem is that Desormeaux wrapped up WAY too soon in my opinion and failed to get his horse the best possible finish.