By C.L. Brown, The (Louisville) Courier-Journal

Updated


ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer D. Wayne Lukas' innocuous comment about the difficulty of winning at Belmont Park on Thursday sounded more like the explanation of a Belmont Park jinx after Friday's events.

  • By Brad Penner, US Presswire
    I'll Have Another is the 12th horse since 1978 to claim the first two legs of the Triple Crown only to falter at the Belmont Stakes.

By Brad Penner, US Presswire
I'll Have Another is the 12th horse since 1978 to claim the first two legs of the Triple Crown only to falter at the Belmont Stakes.


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I'll Have Another, once the favorite to win Saturday's Belmont Stakes and end the 34-year Triple Crown drought, was forced to withdraw because of tendinitis. He became the 12th horse since Affirmed won the Triple Crown in 1978 to claim the first two legs only to falter in New York.
"For some reason on this particular race and this situation, things happen," said Lukas, who had his own Triple Crown dreams dashed in 1999 when Charismatic took third.


It's not the first time an injury ended the pursuit of horse racing immortality. Charismatic finished his race with a broken left front leg. Spectacular Bid in 1979 infamously had a pin in a hoof and ended up third. Big Brown in 2008 had a crack in a hoof, pulled up lame and was eased through the stretch.
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At least those horses ran. Even War Emblem, who in 2002 stumbled out of the gate, never recovered and finished eighth in his bid for the Triple Crown, gave spectators faint hope. I'll Have Another was the first that didn't make it to the starting gate.
"It's proof that we love our horses and we're going to do the right thing," I'll Have Another trainer Doug O'Neill said. "As disappointing as it is, I'll Have Another is going to go out on top. We all just feel so blessed to have been a part of him. I wish it would have lasted longer, but that's sports."
Two decades ago, the injury to I'll Have Another would have gone unnoticed. The technology did not yet exist to detect it, according to Larry Bramlage, a Lexington veterinarian who does the on-call work for the Triple Crown.
Ultimately, the safety of the horse and race integrity to those who might wager were most important to former jockey Richard Migliore, who now serves as a broadcast analyst with the New York Racing Association. Migliore said he had a similar feeling when he watched Smarty Jones get passed by Birdstone in the final furlong in his 2004 Triple Crown bid.
"I felt like I got punched in the stomach," Migliore said. "I almost feel relief now that it was picked up before it became something catastrophic."
It probably still feels that way to NBC broadcasters, who will dedicate two-plus hours of coverage to the 2½-minute race. Ratings are always better when a Triple Crown is at stake.
NBC Sports Group spokesman Adam Freifeld declined to detail the changes the network would make in its broadcast.
It is, however, safe to assume that I'll Have Another's quest was surely going to be prominently featured during the broadcast and now stories weaved around his absence — including the new favorites — become the centerpiece.
"It's not like you can do this thing and just run him another time," Lukas said. "You only get one chance to do this. From a standpoint of a purist, it's a blow."
Its impact is felt throughout the industry. Billy Turner, the trainer of 1977 Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew, said, "It's tough on the owners, it's tough on the trainer and it's tough on the public."
"There are an awful lot of people who were looking forward to … this thing really was going to happen," Turner said. "And then it just didn't."
Even the eventual winner could be viewed historically with an asterisk knowing he didn't beat I'll Have Another.
"I think we could have competed with him, and it would have been a great race and great for the sport," said Dullahan trainer Dale Romans. "It would have been something special to beat him."
The news left Sonny Taylor and Ralph Theroux facing a different question. The Belmont Park placing judges so anticipated an I'll Have Another win that they made room for a photo to rest beside the portraits of the previous three Triple Crown winners.
Now they're left deciding what to put in its place in their sixth-floor room overlooking the finish line.
"It's disappointing," said the 75-year-old Taylor, who was Belmont's official timer when Secretariat won in 1973. "That's what happens in horse racing. What are you going to do?"

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