A Lesson Learned

Affirmed

A LESSON LEARNED

By Lou Sahadi

(Author of the book "Affirmed, The Last Triple Crown Winner")

It was all supposed to be about history.  I'll Have Another, the odds on favorite, was anointed to win the 144th running of the Belmont Stakes as the first winner of racing's coveted Triple Crown in 34 years.  Back in l978, Affirmed and his l8 year old rider Steve Cauthen, created the excitement with a tingling victory by a nose over Alydar in a pulsating stretch run for the ages.

There  was no magical moment or excitement  this year.  When I'll Have Another was scratched 24 hours before the race, after a strong workout  earlier in the week that made him a 4-5 favorite, the elixir of the Triple Crown champagne turned rancid.  I'll Have Another's trainer, Doug 0'Neill, scratched his champion early Friday morning because of tendonitis in the thoroughbred's left front foot.

 

"It's  far from tragic but it's very disappointing," bellowed 0'Neill.  "It's just a freakish thing."

0'Neill's lament wasn't looked upon forgigivingly by the railbirds.  There was too much suspicion surrounding 0'Neill who had been fined or suspended for drug violations. some of which caused his horses to breakdown.  When 0'Neill further announced that same Friday that I'll Have Another" will be retired after a seven race career, it was met with skepticism about whether the horse really was injured or on the verge of 0'Neill getting caught with some of his concocted serum.

There was also a cloud of suspicion over the horse's owner, Paul Reddam who is under investigation in three states regarding the high risk, high interest mortgage loan business that has netted him a fortune.  What's happened to racing that for centuries was hailed as the sport of kings? Are there more doubters, more dubious personalities?

Maybe not.

 There was a lesson learned from last week's Belmont.  Governor Andrew Cuomo weeks earlier mandated New York State to take over the jurisdiction of the bankrupt New York Racing Association.  In an unprecedented move, state officials ordered that every horse entered in the Bemont Stakes will be housed in a quarantined barn area

monitored by a state official to ensure that no licentious undertaking could be done by anyone.

The Kentucky Derby officials and those at the Preakness would be wise to emulate the actions taken by New York.  The state preserved the integrity of the Belmont.  It was a telling result that will help restore the confidence of the betting public and give impetus to a sport that has been in decline for too long.

Sadly, in all the cynicism that shrouded the 2012 Belmont, it will never be known if I'll Have Another would have been the 13th winner of the Triple Crown.  The racing public lost a possible moment of history.  However, justifibly, 0'Neill won't have a Triple Crown bauble to put on his splintered shelf.

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