A Plea to Iavarone: Let Him Run

re: A Plea to Iavarone: Let Him Run

GOCURLIN — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:03:50 GMT

Retiring Big Brown in his prime makes NO sense. I mean, it's not like he has a major injury or something. And the sport really needs a big star to make it popular yet again.

re: A Plea to Iavarone: Let Him Run

insider p — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 13:01:53 GMT

Big Brown has created a tremendous amount of attention to the horseracing industry both good and bad,maybe more will be done to protect these fine athletes in the future.I wish BIG BROWN a safe race win or lose.whats meant to be will be.Every sport needs a super star and right now BB is our SS.

how can i get a list of the horses running in tomorrow s breeeders cup race

how can i get a list of the horses running in tomorrow s breeeders cup race — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 12:56:40 GMT

Pingback from how can i get a list of the horses running in tomorrow s breeeders cup race

re: A Plea to Iavarone: Let Him Run

B.graham — Wed, 28 May 2008 21:11:55 GMT

as weak as the 3yr olds are this year.big brown needs to prove he is great, by racing against curlin.dont you think?

re: A Plea to Iavarone: Let Him Run

Matthew W — Fri, 23 May 2008 01:31:45 GMT

CURLIN is the reason you DON'T RETIRE!! Big Brown v Curlin BELONGS TO RACING HISTORY, just like Affirmed v Slew, Affirmed v Bid, Damascas v Dr Fager v Buckpasser---WE HAVE TO HAVE THIS because this trancends the dollars and cents of the Sport Of Kings--even without Curlin, I'd like him to prove it against older horses, like when Bid beat the olders in the Marlboro Cup by five, or like Alydar in the Whitney---no, Big Brown has done it easy vs very easy--so far---he's likely the Crown winner but he needs more of a showcase---I think he's one of the all-timers but I also need to see it---and I do know it when I see it---I've waited long to see a horse like Bid and I want to see him some more--(please)

re: A Plea to Iavarone: Let Him Run

Bryce Be Quick — Thu, 22 May 2008 18:55:40 GMT

Note to Paula Weglarz and Claire Novak-- yes, I am glad Buckpasser isn't alive today with a trainer trying to use those glue-ons on his quarter-cracked feet-- those dang quarter cracks have GOT to be very painful. I would use my "real name" as well, but I feel better having my horse, first-born of 1986 Derby runner Wheatly Hall and ridden by Gary Stevens, doing the talking.

Liz-- excellent point about BB and stud duty: always hard to figure out how a guy might project in the breeding shed, and while I know his Sire, Boundary, never asked to go beyond a mile so we just don't know about those genes, really, there is little by way of classic two-turn distance coming up from the bottom, either. So yes, he could be a classic bust of epic proportions. Heaven knows Three Chimneys seemingly due for one of those. That's okay, my guy Exchange Rate over there will take up the slack :-)

re: A Plea to Iavarone: Let Him Run

longtime racing fan — Thu, 22 May 2008 18:39:21 GMT

Secretariat was syndicated for the mighty sum (for the time) of $6 million before he won the Triple Crown; he raced several more times afterward and yes, Onion defeated him once... but he showed that the Triple Crown wins were not flukes. He did not run away from competition and that one defeat in his 3-year-old year (he lost a couple as a 2 year old as I recall) certainly did not tarnish his reputation or value. For Big Brown to even approach the "pantheon of greats" he should follow a similar path. Grass, dirt, synthetic should make no difference. A true champion isn't afraid of competition. Every horse in the race is running on the same surface.

Barbaro won on grass, dirt, mud... if he had not had his accident he'd be retired by now anyway, but he'd probably have, as someone else stated above, gone to Europe to run against the good grass horses over there in the meantime.

The greatest of the greats, Man O'War, won 20 of 21 races...

If Curlin is truly being pointed to the Arc de Triomphe, then he is going for 1.5 miles on grass--- a true test of a champion, especially one who has only run on dirt before. His team isn't afraid of all those European (and other continents) grass runners... Curlin HAS been lightly raced, but he is still racing!!! Imagine what HIS stud value will be when he finally DOES retire.

I read an item in BloodHorse which clearly stated Big Brown's biggest hoof problem was a stone bruise, not a quarter crack. There IS a difference.

Considering how many of our recent Kentucky Derby winners have been sent off to Japan or Turkey, what difference does it make who won these races a few years down the road? Sometimes I wonder... Those of us who love racing for the HORSES aren't the ones who make the breeding decisions or write the races... and the truly sporting owners will keep their horses out there for longer than half the three-year-old year.

In the current atmosphere surrounding horse racing, it is necessary to remember that the INDUSTRY (all the thousands of farm and track workers, office staff, suppliers, real estate, etc.) depends on a lot of things the GAME provides... and the Great Unwashed Public needs to be SHOWN the good parts of the game as well as the ugly ones the media and radical weirdos focus on. Where is the PR? Forget "Go Baby Go" which was a disgusting turn-off... get the human-interest and cuddly baby foals out there... the beautiful farms and studly stallions... I had the good fortune to visit Newmarket, England this spring and it was wonderful to see the racing story from the broodmares and foals to the beautiful stallions and stud farms to looking down the breathtaking Rowley Mile racecourse from the finish line, to the Royal Box, to the historic Museum of Horseracing, the entire town depending on the racing thoroughbred.

Match races? NO. I saw Swaps and Ruffian. Full everyone-welcome races? YES.

IEAH, take some time to smell those roses... enjoy the marvelous HORSE... or go buy racing boats.

Retire BB when you have no more worlds to conquer, and you will find the mare owners beating down your door. For 2-3 years anyway. By then the get will prove him out one way or the other. He is linebred to Northern Dancer, Damascus, and Round Table... he ought to be able to hang around for at least another 6 months.

How soon did they forget Kelso, Forego and John Henry? Geldings, yes--- but they had huge fan followings. Lava Man is still very popular out here in the West. People who come to the track love to have a familiar name to follow. Horse racing has very little presence in today's newspapers or mainstream media... unless it's negative. Let's give them something positive and LASTING to look to and cheer on.

Thanks for letting me ramble... it's all part of the greater picture though.

re: A Plea to Iavarone: Let Him Run

Paula Weglarz — Thu, 22 May 2008 17:07:57 GMT

Claire, good for you for stating the obvious about this horse's feet. (I like that you, like me, post under your own legal name, too!)

I saw them Derby week and said "ouch" myself.

This horse may or may not hold up, and then what is that going to do to racing if we have a horse breakdown again on the track during another Triple Crown race.

And, btw, BB IS still racing with padded, glue on shoes on the front. They only reshod his back feet.

re: A Plea to Iavarone: Let Him Run

Paula Weglarz — Thu, 22 May 2008 17:05:12 GMT

Correct to the person who said this is no longer a sport, but an industry....

Gone are the days of the Sport of Kings, when 50,000 people showed up to see Native Dancer, the "Grey Ghost" and people had the sporting privilege of watching a horse make 22 starts and retire a champion.

Going into the Belmont, BB will be on Race 6 of his career..... only race 6. Native Dancer made at least 8 starts in his 2 year old year, and to me, that says volumes about what has happened in racing today.

Do we think the tracks are any less safer than they were in the 1950's? No... and there were no synthetic surfaces then.

What has made the thoroughbred weak is the breeding and use of medications, such as the steroid Winstrol, which Dutrow claims he doesn't know WHY they give it to his horses, but that it's allowed so they do....

Excuse me, but a steroid - an anabolic steroid - IS a performance enhancing drug, regardless of whether the NY Racing authorities or KY Horse Racing Authority classify it as "permitted" up to 72 hours prior to a race.

Also, greedy breeding practices allow for horses who are technically unsound to retire to stud and people line up to breed to these horses.

Horses are also overbred, in my opinion. When a horse has a stallion book as high as 150 mares to cover, then that's just too much of that bloodline being put into the breeding pool.

re: A Plea to Iavarone: Let Him Run

gary camejo — Thu, 22 May 2008 17:04:13 GMT

Listen guys in this business, its quite simple, (MONEY TALKS, B.S WALKS)!!

re: A Plea to Iavarone: Let Him Run

Claire Novak — Thu, 22 May 2008 16:52:10 GMT

Big Brown did not "overcome" bad hooves as stated by Anna. His feet are trimmed down and held together with glue and it's a lucky thing he hasn't foundered already... any real horseman who looks at his feet would agree those are some painfully unnaturally trimmed/shod hooves.

He hasn't "overcome" hoof issues - his connections have luckilly held his hooves together through this campaign - and the one positive thing about him retiring after the Belmont (should he do so) will be the fact that his feet will get the chance to grow back to a natural, pain-free length.

re: A Plea to Iavarone: Let Him Run

Liz — Thu, 22 May 2008 16:42:04 GMT

Bryce, believe me, I don't think a petition signed by every single person on the planet would change the plans for the big horse to be breeding mares by next spring. But I don't mind dreaming of getting BB and Curlin together in some nice race, but I am talking about this year. I can't say I think SA is the place it will happen. I would love to see them on the turf. I know it is all a pipe dream, Wall Street has spoken. And who can blame them, no race horse can come close to earning the kind of money a great stud can pull in. Cigar leads the all-time race earnings list with $9,999,815. Storm Cat pulled in more money with the first 20 mares he bred in 2006. And he bred 111 mares that year. BB may turn out to be a great stud and have a long career. He may also be out of "Gas," and by "The Side of The Road." ;) I doubt he will flop, but it is possible, and their best chance of getting big money for his breeding rights might be in the first few years before everyone finds out he is a dud.

re: A Plea to Iavarone: Let Him Run

Pam S. — Thu, 22 May 2008 16:36:04 GMT

Couldn't agree more with SB. I really liked Hard Spun and could not understand the point of his early retirement. If every racehorse who has accomplished much of anything must become a breeding animal so quickly, it is like multi-level marketing: You begin by selling a product (racing), but the whole point is to sign up people under you to sell product so that you make money off their sales (breeding). If everyone is doing this, obviously one day there will be too much breeding for too little racing -- much like too many Avon reps and too few interested customers.

Investors (owners) surely can see this coming, and therefore feel justified yanking their multimillions out before the whole "pyramid" collapses. What I don't understand is, don't the sheiks and Wall Streeters have, at some point, enough money to slow down? How much better can you eat? Oh, well, I'm just a workaday fan. But when I'm too old or disillusioned to bet or go to the track anymore, who will replace me?

re: A Plea to Iavarone: Let Him Run

hector — Thu, 22 May 2008 16:26:27 GMT

I doubt steroid laced horses continuing to run will do anything for this game.

re: A Plea to Iavarone: Let Him Run

pinnacle — Thu, 22 May 2008 16:10:14 GMT

True horse lovers and racing enthsiasts enjoy being at the races almost anywhere. Here they are increasingly able to see offspring of "the greats" because their parents did not race to the point of injury or fatality.

If you have never made a major investment in a potential breeding animal, you may not realize that one of the best ways to improve racing is to "preserve" your animal so they can improve the breed and provide future greatnesss to be enjoyed by many at both the large and small tracks.

In my view, if the owner's were truly just interested in money or the "limelight" they would have relied on insurance as a financial backstop, pursued an extended racing career and delayed the sale of breeding rights until it would have been considerably larger.