JC / Railbird

Hey, where did you get your Casino Drive Beyer figure? The man himself told me via email the horse got a 99. The brilliant maiden debut of the $1 million Unbridled’s Heart earlier on the card got a 100.

Posted by John S. on May 11, 2008 @ 11:32 pm

From a usually reliable source, although not the eponymous figure maker. Could it have been adjusted? I just confirmed the 101 through DRF Simulcast Daily …

Posted by Jessica on May 12, 2008 @ 12:03 am

I’m still somewhat flabbergasted by that Sun Times quote …

Posted by dana on May 12, 2008 @ 9:28 am

Dana — I’m with you. My local paper carried the story yesterday and upon reading it I thought “There’s one more to add into my why I dislike Dutrow column.” Geez. He keeps making it harder and harder for me to like his horse. IMHO, You just don’t go “dishing” tradition if you want respect (especially with his record) and so far he isn’t earning any brownie points in my opinion poll.

Posted by Katie aka TripCrown73 on May 12, 2008 @ 9:52 am

Man, you guys are a tough crowd. I’m no Dutrow fan, but getting after the guy for not putting the roses on his horse — when he has a perfectly plausible explanation for it, given that more than one horse has rebelled against blankets of flowers — and then not preserving them (what does one do with a used blanket of roses, anyway?) seems a little bit harsh. I never thought I’d say it … but, cut the guy some slack :-)

Posted by Frank on May 12, 2008 @ 10:48 am

After being suspended every year since 2000 for drug infractions, one would think enough slack has been cut for the man.
The triple crown is the BIG stage, bigger microscope time. I’m surprised the regular, reactionary media blowhards who’ve been yammering on about changing this and changing that haven’t put the two together yet.
I would think it would have been in big, bold letters on the front page of every newspaper — the contrast between the winner’s connections and the fate of Eight Belles.
But instead we’ve been told about synthetics, whips, breeding and surfaces that need changing.

Posted by o_crunk on May 12, 2008 @ 11:18 am

I’ll cut him some slack when he proves he deserves it. I love a “they got their act together” story just as much as anyone else, but for me the jury is still out.
I found the explanation about why the roses didn’t go BB after my comment, however, I still stand by the reaction based on the “then dropped the blanket on the ground to join the party… before it was rescued by a state trooper” part. C’mon.

Posted by dana on May 12, 2008 @ 4:00 pm

I swore I’d never get in a commenting debate and now … yeesh … I’m going to. Never again, though :-)
Here’s what I’m saying: if you want to torch the guy for the myriad bad things he’s done, have at it. In fact, Amen, brothers and sisters. Absolutely he should be held accountable for these things.
But, the roses story … this is not important. If I ever win the Derby — and no one should hold their breath waiting for that to occur — I can guarantee you that the well-being of the blanket of roses will be just about the last thing on my mind.
In point of fact — and I won’t name names here — but I know of an almost identical thing that happened involving a much-beloved trainer, a major race, and an errant blanket of flowers. Race won, celebration begun — flowers forgotten, eventually rescued by someone unrelated to the horse. It happens — they’re horse trainers, not gardeners, to paraphrase Dr. McCoy!

Posted by Frank on May 12, 2008 @ 5:48 pm

Ah, don’t say never again so soon! :)
I see your point, and believe me, I have torched him for the myriad other bad things he’s done (and will probably continue to do so until it’s clear he’s still not doing them).
However, my point is, that while clearly not the end of the world, and possibly even JUST AN OVERSIGHT, it still underscores his continual disrespect for anything other than winning, babe.
It’s not really about the roses per se, although they do have their own security detail according to Bloodhorse (Derby print addition arrived tonight). It’s about his lack of respect. If he had shown any prior to this, no doubt like the much loved trainer you mention, it would be no big deal.

Posted by dana on May 12, 2008 @ 6:50 pm

Now, Dana, you’re just baiting me :-)
I think our best move here is to agree to disagree.
I say, Trample the roses! (just kidding)

Posted by Frank on May 12, 2008 @ 11:02 pm

Agreed! All of my arguments are predicated on two things… I love to argue and everyone is entitled to their opinion. Lovely disagreeing with you! :)

Posted by dana on May 13, 2008 @ 10:19 am

Although I’ve seen it more times than I can remember, I’m still surprised when people buy into Beyer’s simplistic attempt to reduce variables such as wind speed, humidity, moisture content of the dirt, and the efects of harowing, scrapinmg, and rolling between races into a raw number that millions believe accurately depicts how fast a horse ran.
In the summer of 1989 the man himself stated Alydar and Affirmed would “beat Sunday Silence and Easy Goer by a pole”.
A few months later he did an about face and said, “If these two keep progresing they’ll be throwing up Secretariat like numbers as four year olds.
Then there was A.P. Indy who was dismissed as “too slow” after the 1992 Santa Anita Derby. Beyer and his ilk notced the San Bernadino run a few hours after the Santa Anita Derby was run two full seconds faster.
He conveniently failed to notice that aggressive track maintenance subsequent to A.P. Indy’s race had changed a deep track into a paved highway.
It goes on and on:
Beyer dismissing Royal Academy in the 1990 Breeder’s Cup Mile because he refused to burn money on a horse ridden by “a 60-year-old ex-convict (the legendary Lester Piggott).”
Jerry Brown brazenly declaring that Smarty Jones had better numbers than Secretariat.
Len Ragozin’s groupies spitting on Sunday Silence in the ’89 B.C. Classic… .
But what the heck, Beyer’s laughing all the way to the bank while bettors wade through a knee-deep pile of shredded tickets on the way to the parking lot.
You’ve got to love a country where a method based on bush-league inferential statistics can make a guy a millionaire.
As an aside, Dick, nice job for attempting to humiliate the Japanese with the condescending Godzilla remark.
You’d better hope those guys don’t believe in bulletin board material. Not that you’d care, but Casino Drive’s connections are the Japanese equivalent of Sunny jim Fitzimmons and George Wolfe . The colt’s trainer has been Japan’s leading trainer 11 times (six years in a row) and has won Group one races in Europe. He can flat out train and learned how to train horses at Newmarket and assisted in the training of Symboli Rudolph (look it up). His rider, Yutaka Take, is a cult figure in Japan–very much like Steve Cauthen was here.
Pull up the chart of a filly called “Dance in the Mood” in the 2006 Cash Call Stakes at Hollywood Park. She beat another filly who had won eight straight after going a mile in 1:33 1/5 while being pulled up approaching the wire.
One word: Coastal.

Posted by J. CARPENTER on May 19, 2008 @ 4:26 pm