This probably falls under the \"rhetorical question\" category, but jeez, his interview today, where he blamed the whole thing on Desormeaux is crazy.
I don\'t think anybody that has watched any number of races would argue with the following points:
1. Desormeaux didn\'t give the horse a good ride early. It seems he over-reacted to what he called a stumble, and grabbed a hard hold of him, when the plan was to go to the lead.
2. The horse was dead approaching the far turn, more than 1/4 mile before the finish line and he wasn\'t going to finish in the top 4 or 5 horses.
However, Dutrow is correlating points 1 and 2, which is ridiculous. If Big Brown got beat in a close race you can blame the ride. Heck, even if he got beat 4 or 5 lengths, you could say that Desormeaux took the horse out of his game and MAY have caused the loss.
But the horse stopped running and was backing up in a lousy, slow field. I believe there is a good chance the maiden would have beaten him even if Desormeaux had kept riding him (I admit this is purely speculation)
Dutrown ran a horse who was not ready to run 1 1/2 miles. To be honest, that might not be his fault. I am guessing JB and others would argue that it was inevitable because of the big races, tightly spaced together and the subsequent regression in the Preakness.
But to be sure, it isn\'t Desormeaux\'s fault. You want to suspend him for a week for not riding his horse all the way to the finish line, I am guessing he will gladly accept the suspension and still think he did the right thing by the owners. When you consider Eight Belles and Barbaro, maybe it wasn\'t a bad idea. Other than one guy on this board, is there anybody that bet Big Brown that felt when Desormeaux pulled him up that Big Brown was going to finish in the top 4?
Dutrow is a jerk. Thank the racing gods that this guy was not allowed to be the guy that ends the triple crown draught. If the alternative was HIM or NO triple crown winner, I think we are better off with NO triple crown winner.
