JC / Railbird

On Bellyaching

I’ve been accused of late, in emails and comments, of not being properly enthusiastic about Big Brown, so let me give the horse his due: Big Brown is a phenomenal talent, a freak, and he would be coming out of any barn. He’s dominated every start, he’s shown that he can rate or lead, that he can break from the inside or the outside. He accelerates effortlessly, and he displays qualities exhibited by past great racehorses — he makes every race look like his own and every horse he beats look second-rate.

I hope he wins the Triple Crown. It’s been 30 years; racing fans deserve a superstar.

Apparently, that’s all I’m supposed to say. Anything else is “bellyaching.”

You know, over the past two weeks, we’ve heard endlessly that racing is in crisis, that racing must change, that the sport has to deal with its drug problem and breed more durable horses.

Last Saturday, both ESPN and NBC dedicated panels to discussing these and other issues and everyone involved earnestly agreed to the necessity of reform.

Not 10 minutes after the NBC segment wrapped, Bob Costas was announcing a stud deal for lightly-raced Big Brown.

A few minutes later, NTRA president Alex Waldrop appeared and, among other things, promised that racing would be steroids free by 2009, without even giving a nod to the fact that the Preakness favorite — and more than likely, half the field — was on steroids as a matter of course.

And yet all that, as well as trainer Rick Dutrow’s lengthy record and questionable character, should be put aside.

Well, I’m not interested in doing that. Big Brown, on the verge of a historic achievement, embodies racing’s rot. I watch his races and feel the transcendence that great horses offer — I really meant it when I said he’s phenomenal — but then the disenchantment comes on.

To stop talking now about Dutrow’s career and methods, or IEAH’s rush to stud and its business plan and what it all means, is to give the racing establishment a pass on the problems corroding our game.

Racing is compromised, its future success threatened, and to refuse to grapple with the contradictions and questions that surround Big Brown is to willingly put on blinkers.

But I guess desperately wanting to celebrate a Triple Crown winner nullifies any claims integrity or intellectual honesty make on our consciences. As David Brooks wrote of the unsavory Melmotte, “Dishonesty becomes acceptable so long as it contributes to success.”


13 Comments

You need to answer to no one. If Railbird stops saying what she feels, I’ll stop reading Railbird.
Those who administer lofty bullying judgement become awfully quiet when their own words collapse in a heap of wrong.
I need a calculator for all the times I’m off the mark. My strategy is to say what I feel, say it the best I can, in my own way, sometimes funny and sometimes failed funny, sometimes smart and sometimes (often?) frivolous and then, finally, most important, regarding my opinion of my peers’ opinions, I should just shut the flip up.
(Started using flip after several watchings of Napoleon Dynamite).
When I slip—we all slip—and appear judgmental (infrequently judging but almost always mental), please lemme know and I’ll apologize.
Go, Railbird, go!!!

Posted by Wrong Wrongawitz on May 21, 2008 @ 2:05 pm

Very well said, Jessica!

Posted by Matt on May 21, 2008 @ 2:25 pm

I find this ‘bellyaching’ stuff to be utterly predictable.
In general, this ‘bellyaching’ follows typical internet memes. Make no mistake, the bellyaching about Dutrow is really only coming from the blog/internet corner, since the mainstream media is borderline comatose. It’s a backlash against the backlash and it follows typical internet ‘conversations’ that have ‘sharp’ edges on both sides. It’s a natural progression for the bellyaching to start about the bellyaching. Soon the whole dialogue becomes irrelevant and swirls down the drain. I think it’s getting close to that point.
Bottom line for me is the drugs. Dutrow is a known multiple offender and pretty much unapologetic about being so. I can seperate the horse from the connections, but in the larger sense (sans the TC), these are the type of offenders that need to be looked at and penalized seriously. This is the biggest step needed to ‘fixing’ the game, IMHO.

Posted by o_crunk on May 21, 2008 @ 2:40 pm

Jess – Are you talkin’ to me? :-o
Great post, I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree on the matter.
One bit of bellyaching on my part though – Did Brooks use that quote in his continued pitiful defense of the war?

Posted by alan on May 21, 2008 @ 2:42 pm

Every good blog has an opinion and a point of view. keep doing what you are doing.

Posted by robert on May 21, 2008 @ 4:49 pm

Listen Ms. High and Mighty,
This is horse racing, if you are looking for intellectual honesty aren’t you looking in the wrong place? The last time I encountered any intellectual honesty on the apron at Aqueduct, the Dalai Lama was standing right next to me.

Posted by John on May 21, 2008 @ 4:54 pm

Well said (as usual) Jessica.
John, apparently you’ve never stood next to Miss High and Mighty on the apron!
Alan, I guess we all should thank you! If it wasn’t for your A) proclamation that anything other than your point of view is “bellyaching” and B) actually tsk-ing people when they voiced that “bellyaching” point of view, we wouldn’t have this great post. Well done! :)

Posted by dana on May 21, 2008 @ 5:16 pm

Alan, not directly. Impetus came from an email. I did have your post on the subject sent to me a couple times this week by readers taking umbrage at certain Dutrow mentions, though, so I can’t deny it wasn’t in mind as I typed. And you’re right, o_crunk, this post is a little meta. Don’t worry — neither bellyaching about bellyaching nor bellyaching alone will be major themes over the next couple weeks.
The Brooks quote comes from his introduction to “The Way We Live Now,” which is a terrific novel, if anyone’s looking for something new to read.

Posted by Jessica on May 21, 2008 @ 5:18 pm

Jiminee Christmas—Aren’t we all Saints? I’ve stated before that unless all of the Critics of Dutrow have nothing in their closet, no skeletons, then go ahead and throw stones. He has brought himself up from the depths that many have not experiecned. And I add— I sincerly hope do not experience. It’s not fun. Walk the back track, it’s a tough game. Eight Belles I believe did not come in second to Big Brown in vain. Have patience, things will turn around. We will follow how the right course and eliminate drugs. But it will never fully be gone. Live the moment. Enjoy this time. We are going to have a Triple Crown winner. We may not see this again for another 30 years–r

Posted by race on May 21, 2008 @ 5:47 pm

When things are patently wrong, people need to mobilize and change them. I applaud Railbird. I so hope there is no Triple Crown for Big Brown Bonds. If there is, maybe PEB can do an illustration of a dirty needle wearing a tarnished crown.

Posted by gorevidalfan on May 21, 2008 @ 7:18 pm

I appreciate your honesty. I was beginning to think I am only one of a small handful who aren’t terribly excited over Big Brown’s possible Triple Crown.
No question about his talent, but he just doesn’t have “it” for me.
And the videos of the great champs of the ’70s serves to emphasize that point.

Posted by LindaVA on May 22, 2008 @ 9:27 am

To me it comes down to this: If you think the sport of Thoroughbred racing NEEDS a Triple Crown winner who won’t race again after the Belmont Stakes, then you’re sadly mistaken.
I could see Big Brown maybe running in the Travers if NYRA manages to round up another group of horses incapable of running a 100 Beyer or a “5” ragozin figure, but he won’t even sniff an older horse in the starting gate.

Posted by EJXD2 on May 22, 2008 @ 12:48 pm

Jessica, I agree with all that you have stated and I am glad to see this all in print. In fact I myself just cringe to think that Big Brown might have some “help” in winning these Triple Crown races. And when Dutrow’s name is mentioned in the same sentence about having a horse that is a “freak” I just cringe even more and hope for the sake of racing that Big Brown is not getting any “help” with his victories. It’s truely a shame when the reputation following a trainer can make you doubt a horses true ability at this elevated level. But I guess that’s the world we are living in.

Posted by Nick Borg on May 23, 2008 @ 3:49 pm