The Spoiler
Jockey Edgar Prado, named to ride Casino Drive in the Belmont Stakes, knows how to dash Triple Crown dreams:
He has ridden in eight Belmont Stakes and has two victories to his credit, with both scores — in 2002 aboard Sarava and in 2004 with Birdstone — spoiling the respective Triple Crown bids of War Emblem and Smarty Jones.
He’s the perfect rider for Big Brown’s presumed main rival.
Casino Drive, looking “elegant,” half-worked, half-galloped in a time too slow to officially credit on Wednesday morning at Belmont. “He doesn’t need to go fast,” said racing manager Nobutaka Tada (DRF).
Material Information
On the IEAH web site, co-president Michael Iavarone is described as “a high-profile investment banker on Wall Street,” but Bloomberg turns up a different story, reporting that the man behind the $50 million Big Brown stud deal and a proposed $100 million racing hedge fund is a sanctioned penny stock broker and failed dotcom bubble day trader.
The NYT adds a few more details: “Iavarone told The New York Times that he had worked for Goldman Sachs, the world’s largest investment bank…. But he never worked for Goldman Sachs.”
Iavarone said he couldn’t reveal much about his background earlier, because it would have been “misunderstood.” No, I doubt that’s it … everything that’s come out is quite understandable, as is why he’d want to keep it quiet.
5/29 Addendum: Investors tell DRF they support IEAH. “We’re all entitled to screw up a little in our pasts, and you get to make up for those things,” said one. “They’ve been nothing but professionals.” The same investor did admit, though, that the information, new to him, about Iavarone’s experience, “disturbs me, maybe, a little bit.”
Progress Report
Farrier Ian McKinlay answers press questions at Belmont on Monday morning after working on the quarter crack in Big Brown’s left front hoof.
Big Brown was back on track this morning, jogging a mile and half around Belmont. Trainer Rick Dutrow, who said on Monday morning that if the colt’s hoof showed improvement Tuesday he would probably have Big Brown walked under tack around the shedrow instead of resuming training, told the AP the change of plans was good for Big Brown’s head:
“He’s been kind of aggravated. He don’t know why he’s not going to the track. He just doesn’t understand why he’s not doing it. And we can’t explain it to him. So we let him go out there today and take the edge off of him. He’s just getting too rough around the barn.”
On Monday, hoof lameness specialist Ian McKinlay cleaned up the 3/4-inch quarter crack that emerged on Big Brown’s left front hoof early Saturday, inserting stainless steel sutures to close the crack and stabilize the heel. Although he noted that some inflammation was present and said he’d like to see the coronet band looking a little healthier, McKinlay was confident Big Brown was on the mend and would be ready for the Belmont Stakes, “as long as we don’t make any mistakes.” In an email to Fran at Hoofcare last night, McKinlay reported that the hoof “went cold within five hours of lacing him up,” which suggests McKinlay’s confidence was well founded, as does this morning’s activity. The farrier, working at Monmouth today, will re-examine Big Brown on Wednesday and determine the next steps for treatment.
In other Belmont news:
Out at the track early with Teresa and friends, we caught Tomcito, recovered from his post-Peter Pan myectomy, galloping a mile and three quarters around Belmont, as well as Tale of Ekati working six furlongs in an uninspiring 1:18.97 under jockey Eibar Coa, prompting trainer Barclay Tagg to mutter, “Two works before a Classic race and this is not what I wanted” (NY Daily News, not overheard by us). Slow as Tale of Ekati’s move may have been, the work was the fastest of three at the distance.
Rumors True
The backstretch whispers were true: Big Brown has a “minor” quarter crack in his left front hoof, Rick Dutrow announced this morning, and although the undefeated colt has already missed two days of training and will likely miss three more, Dutrow remains optimistic about his chances in the Belmont Stakes two weeks from now. “The horse is in no discomfort, he doesn’t even know anything is wrong,” he told reporters. “Missing a few days of training is not going to hurt us at all” (NYT). Maybe this won’t be the year the Triple Crown drought comes to an end after all.
Also rumored, but unconfirmed: That Kent Desormeaux’s agent is angling for the call on Casino Drive, whose connections have pushed back a decision on the colt’s jockey to Wednesday. Desormeaux rode Casino Drive to a win in the Peter Pan and gushed about his stride after …
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Jessica Chapel writes and edits in Massachusetts. Railbird is a Thoroughbred horse racing blog published from June 2004 to July 2019. More / Contact
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