RON RIPPEY'S PICKS
AT MONMOUTH
1 - RIVERDALE gets big rider change to Trujillo; defeated nickel claimers two races back. DYNAMIC DUO will draw strong support after winning at 8-5 for Dutrow. SHORE also won last as chalk in slower time than latter, but has hot Lezcano-Servis combo who win 33% of time together.
2 - JOCKEY O, a 2-year-old Jan. fold, posted sharp work from gate and draws better post than obvious favorite TRIPPIN TRIPPI. JACYMARA edges up in price after good second in first start at 8-5. Bravo rides.
3 - CURVATURE was claimed by Levine (44% winners) off fast-closing score at Churchill Downs. WISP has 7-for-13 habit of placing second at this distance. WINSTRELLA needed last. Pletcher goes to Bravo.
4 - Steady SALMON RUN was squeezed between horses. Gets better trip. SILENT FLASH beat two of this same field. DIVINE INTERVIEW became runaway victor with addition of blinkers, but only beat maidens.
5 - LIQUID AMBER (BEST BET) wins fourth in row and sixth in seven Shore grass races. No. 1 post helps favorite defeated HIGHLAND CAT and VETTRIANO, who finished a neck apart in last.
6 - PILANESBERG couldn't overhaul winner, who romped by 12 3/4 in debut, after getting 7-2 money. Gets early jump on MATADOR RUN and first-time starter IMACHALLENGER.
7 - OBSCURITY stretches out off gate-to-wire score at Belmont aided by addition of shades. QUICK GETAWAY will be game to the wire despite post. JOCULAR stalks pace. No throw out.
8 - BONDING showed signs of stardom last year. Drops from stakes event where he flopped in slop. Price play vs. TASTEFULLY SMART and MADDY'S CROWD, who lures Lezcano off top choice.
9 - REATA'S QUICK PUNCH clocked best-of-60 work for this. Didn't fire at 3-5 on Polytrack in last after winning prior two starts. SLY STORM is one to beat; won 2-of-3 in Ky. HADAVISION may offer value.
10 - TRES EMILIAS must escape also eligibles. Otherwise, C'EST VALLIERE may find herself in soft spot for debut. Use KRISTINA, CHIPPAEWA DREAMER and JILLYS WAY in exotics.
AT BELMONT
1 - PRECISE ACTION (wins by default in weak race), Wonforthegoodguys, Ty's Ridge
2 - SAGE CHAPEL (grass-to-dirt; versatile enough to set pace of come from behind), Scott's Choice, Token Special
3 - TANGANYIKA (tumbles into claimer for first time), Trippin Up, Fortissi More
4 - WICKED BEAUTY (working lights out since being steadied in debut), Artistic Talent, Dancingcolors
5 - BROKEN TREATY (cuts back to sprint with proven speed), Inter Galactic, Innovator
6 - SWEET SLAM (gets another furlong), Better Than Swiss, Fiona Freud
7 - TRIPPI DANCE (proven in last he wants to sprint, not run a mile), East End Boy, Laurie's Lion
8 - MARKET PSYCHOLOGY (BEST BET) (steals this on sub-baked surface), Naughty New Yorker, Dr. D.F.C.
9 - HORSESHOE BOY (wins off drop in class), Alyssa Givonna, Battle of Britain, Palace Charm
(c) 2008 NJ
Dutrow sends out $82 winner in Suburban at Belmont
Rick Dutrow had been suffering ever since Big Brown folded in the Belmont Stakes, and this week he learned he faces a 15-day drug suspension in Kentucky. Fellow trainer Larry Jones has been on a bad trip since his filly Eight Belles broke down and was euthanized after finishing second in the Kentucky Derby. Dutrow finally could smile again yesterday at Belmont Park, where the misery continued for Jones.
Dutrow pulled off a shocker with 40-1 shot Frost Giant in the Suburban Handicap as Rudy Rodriguez rode his first Grade I winner.
Jones' Solar Flare and jockey Gabriel Saez looked home free in midstretch but Frost Giant came back along the inside to win by a half-length. In the race before that, Jones' Kentucky Oaks winner, Proud Spell, had a hideous trip under Saez and lost as the heavy favorite in the Grade I Mother Goose Stakes.
Dutrow graciously gave Rodriguez all the credit. "Rudy did an unbelievable job with this horse, not just today but in the mornings," Dutrow said. "I'm so happy for him, and for the owners [IEAH Stables, Andrew Cohen and Pegasus Holdings]. They paid a lot of money [$1.2 million] for this horse."
Dutrow also saddled Rising Moon in the Suburban. "I bet on the wrong horse," he said, laughing, "but what am I going to do? I've got to be happy. This is so cool. I'll be all right now. This gets me back in the game."
Frost Giant paid $82 and earned $240,000 after running 1 1/4 miles in 2:01.58. IEAH co-president Michael Iavarone was at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut for a Billy Joel concert.
"My buddy was losing his shirt at the casino and wanted to put $20 on Frost Giant," Iavarone said. "I told him he'd be throwing more money in the garbage, and we missed the race. When I saw the replay, I nearly had a heart attack. What a week. Talk about a roller coaster."
It's hard to imagine Proud Spell could have had a worse trip in the Mother Goose. The 1-2 favorite in a four-horse field stumbled at the break before Saez rushed her up along the inside to stalk Never Retreat. Proud Spell was shuffled back to last entering the stretch before bouncing off the rail, then rallied too late to catch Music Note. Because Proud Spell bore out three paths and banged into Never Retreat, she was disqualified from second to third.
"From the very start, you could tell it wasn't going to be our day," said Jones, who continues to receive hate mail stemming from Eight Belles' death. "But at least she came back OK. When she needed somewhere to go, the room wasn't there, and when the room was there, she couldn't go."
Music Note, who was 3 1/2 lengths ahead of Proud Spell, paid $5.30. Javier Castellano rode the winner, whom Saeed bin Suroor trains for Godolphin.
Big Brown gallops. Big Brown had his first official gallop since the Belmont yesterday at Aqueduct. Dutrow said the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner might breeze Tuesday.
(c) 2008, Newsday Inc.
Not Bourbon favored in $1-million Queen's Plate
Not Bourbon, the 3-1 morning line favorite, will be looking for his third consecutive win when he takes on 14 other 3-year-olds in the $1-million Queen's Plate on Sunday at Woodbine in Toronto.
If the 3-year-old son of Not Impossible is successful in the 1 1/4 -mile race, he will enable trainer Roger Attfield to win the first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown for a record-tying eight times.
Attfield, whose seventh victory in the Queen's Plate came with Regal Discovery in 1995, will be trying to match the accomplishment of Harry Giddings Jr. Giddings won North America's oldest race -- it was first run in 1860 -- eight times between 1911 and 1942.
Owned by breeder Charles Fipke, Not Bourbon has won four of nine, the latest a neck victory in the $150,000 Plate Trial on June 1.
Worse than third only twice, Not Bourbon will be ridden for the 10th time by jockey Jono Jones.
The 7-2 second choice is Solitaire, a twice-defeated maiden who was the runner-up in the Plate Trial.
Another contender is Ginger Brew, who is seeking to become the first filly to win the Queen's Plate since Dancethruthedawn in 2001. Javier Castellano will be aboard the daughter of Milwaukee Brew for owner-breeder Frank Stronach and trainer Brian Lynch.
After the Queen's Plate, the Canadian Triple Crown continues with the Prince Of Wales Stakes on July 13 at Fort Erie and the Breeders' Stakes on turf on Aug. 3 at Woodbine.
Race of the day: With the $75,000 Valkyr Stakes for California bred fillies and mares canceled because of a lack of entries, the richest race on the card on Sunday at Hollywood Park is a $54,000 optional claimer for female turf sprinters at six furlongs. The top contenders in the field of seven are Rosangela, who is two for two, and Simply Run, who was successful in her local debut on May 18 and a winner of five of nine on grass. The race is the third on the program.
One for the road: Beyond The Trees should relish the cut back in distance in the fifth race on Sunday at Belmont Park. Apprentice Sebastian Morales will ride the 4-year-old Smoke Glacken gelding for part owner and trainer Stanley Hough in the $45,000 maiden claimer at six furlongs on the turf.
Exotically speaking: An early pick four using Storm Brave and Working Man Blues in the first, Tripped The Light and Greenstone in the second, Simply Run in the third and Sweet Roseman, Cupid's Kitty, Tootsnmoneybags and E Bradley in the fourth.
Winners: (previous day/meet total): 3/113. Money (previous day/meet total): $15/$670.40. Total money bet: $762.
(c) 2008 Los Angeles Times
No shortage of ways to bet on Belmont Stakes
There will be 13 races tomorrow at Belmont Park, with the first going off at noon and the last at about 7:45. If that's not enough action for you, log on to bodoglife.com and you'll find at least 30 proposition bets involving the Belmont Stakes and Big Brown.
Obsessive/compulsives, beware.
Among the props you can wager on: Will the television ratings, betting handle and crowd figure be higher or lower than they were for Smarty Jones' Belmont defeat in 2004? (These are separate bets, for those who are tempted.)
Other props include whom Kent Desormeaux will thank first after the race (assuming he wins); where Big Brown will be after a quarter-mile and a half-mile, his margin of victory, and whether Desormeaux will whip him from the eighth pole to the finish line. If future action is your thing, you can bet on whether Big Brown will race after the Belmont and if he'll ever face the 2007 Horse of the Year, Curlin.
No-win situation
There's no chance that Big Brown will race as a 4-year-old next year, when he will begin his stallion career at Three Chimneys Farm near Midway, Ky. Michael Iavarone, co-president of IEAH Stables, reiterated Wednesday night that the door remains open for the superstar to race after the Belmont, win or lose, even though his connections would have virtually nothing to gain.
The colt is insured for at least $50 million, said Iavarone, who emphasized that there would be no reward and great risk to keep him in training for the Travers at Saratoga and the Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Oct. 25.
"Besides the injury factor," Iavarone said, "if he lost to Curlin, some people wouldn't want to breed to Big Brown instead of Curlin if Big Brown's stud fee were higher."
(c) 2008, Newsday Inc.
2008 Belmont Stakes Betting - Prop Bet on Kent Desormeuax
Big Brown's victory in the 2008 Belmont Stakes appears to be such a foregone conclusion, just ask his trainer Richard Dutrow, that BetUS is offering a horse race betting prop wager on who Kent Desormeaux will thank first in the post-race interview.
The interview will most likely occur with Dana Barton, or some other outrider with a microphone, rushing up to Kent while he sits atop Big Brown basking in the glory that comes with winning the Triple Crown. Lest all of us online racebook betting fans forget, Kent Desormeaux was about an inch away from winning the Triple Crown aboard Real Quiet. Less than an inch, actually, and a victory aboard Big Brown would mean an awful lot to the Louisiana born jockey.
But who is he going to thank? That's a tough question, right? There are oh so many options for Kent. Without getting too crazy, I've listed the top four below with their BetUS online future book odds as well as a write-up on whether or not I believe the odds are fair.
BetUS Future Book Odds - - Who Will Kent Desormeaux Thank?
1. Family or a Family Member - - BetUS odds 6 to 5 - - This is the obvious pick. It's almost a better online wager then taking Big Brown at 1 to 3 odds to win the 2008 Belmont Stakes. After all, if Big Brown wins, and Kent feels the need to thank someone, then he most likely will thank his wife. Simply put, Kent Desormeaux's wife is hot. She's practically on fire. I would thank the woman for simply sitting on my couch and staring at the television. Forget about winning a race. Forget about her supporting me in my quest for the Triple Crown. Just hang out with me and I'll thank you all day!
2. God or Jesus - - BetUS odds 5 to 1 - - Coming from Louisiana, Kent Desormeaux no doubt has some of that fire and brimstone Baptist God stuff in him. That means that God or Jesus is an overlay in this situation. Kent might decide that thanking God or Jesus is more important then thanking Big Brown or his wife after he wins the Belmont Stakes because, after all, it was God or Jesus or both who brought Big Brown and his wife into Kent's life. That's good enough, right? 5 to 1 odds are great on God or Jesus!
3. Big Brown - - BetUS odds 4 to 1 - - There's no doubt that the only reason Kent Desormeaux is in the position to win the Triple Crown is because he rides a horse named Big Brown. Kent can practically just sit on top of Big Brown and let the horse do whatever it wants. That's how good Big Brown appears to be. Therefore, if Kent Desormeaux is lucky enough to win the Belmont Stakes and the Triple Crown, then who should he thank? The horse of course! There's no question about this one. Big Brown is who Kent Desormeaux should thank, but I'm not sure he will. I might have to stay away from the online wager.
4. IEAH Stables or Partnership Member - - BetUS odds 6 to 1 - - This is actually a very good bet. Why? Because I don't think that Kent Desormeaux will thank Richard Dutrow. I'm not even sure Kent Desormeaux likes Richard Dutrow, but at odds of 6 to 1, he certainly has to like the fact that IEAH Stables bought a horse like Big Brown and wants Kent Desormeaux to ride it. These odds are overlaid at 6 to 1. Desormeaux understand the importance of ownership in thoroughbred racing. I couldn't fault anybody willing to put some money on Desormeaux to thank IEAH Stables after winning the Belmont Stakes on Big Brown.
(c) 1994-2008 BetUS
Bet on it: Fewer viewers of Preakness
I don't think I'll watch the Preakness Stakes this Saturday. I seem to have lost the heart - and stomach - for watching horses race.
As a guy who grew up near the world's most famous thoroughbred track in Louisville, Ky., and who has watched nearly every big race on television for four decades, I find it hard to explain why I'm tuning out a chance to watch a potential Triple Crown winner. Let's just say I've grown tired of seeing beautiful animals sacrificed to the breeding and betting game.
down in front of the Pimlico grandstand during the Preakness. Eight months later, he was dead. Then, this year in the Kentucky Derby, a filly named Eight Belles broke both front legs while galloping out after her unexpected second-place finish. She was euthanized on the Churchill Downs track.
The breakdown of these two highly prized thoroughbreds - witnessed by millions who watch horse racing only three times a year - demands dramatic change. Among other things, the industry needs to:
* Make the Triple Crown races a showcase for 4-year-olds and stop relying on the spindly, immature legs of 3-year-olds who have been bred for speed and not for endurance. Owners and trainers would cut back on the races they enter their colts and fillies in as 2- and 3-year-olds, giving their bodies and bones more time to mature.
Additionally, let's space the running of the Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes out over a longer period of time. The races now are held within five weeks of each other in the spring and early summer, which is too demanding a schedule.
* Change breeding patterns. American thoroughbreds are becoming increasingly fragile - favoring speed over durability. Sending 3-year-old champions to the breeding barns as 4-year-olds not only deprives race fans of watching their favorites over a longer career, it alters the gene pool and will lead to even more injury problems in the future.
* Insist that all tracks convert from dirt to synthetic racing surfaces. The science is still not conclusive on this, but it strongly suggests that the synthetic tracks reduce the risk of catastrophic injuries. The tracks will complain because the initial cost for converting is high - as much as $10 million. Too bad.
I've come to reluctantly acknowledge that the thoroughbred industry is horribly out of step with this nation's collective consciousness about animal cruelty. It spends far too much time debating about how much owners and trainers should get from wagering over the Internet than it does actually doing something to prolong the lives and racing careers of the animals that sustain its beauty and capture the emotion of the public.
The sight of Eight Belles - immobilized on the Churchill Downs track as Big Brown galloped past her to the winner's circle - sickened everyone who saw it two weeks ago. When two equine ambulances rushed to her side, it wasn't to rescue her. It was to block the view of the crowd from having to witness her death.
With two of the three Triple Crown races marred by tragedy in the last two years, the industry needs to understand the stakes. "It could get to the point that if we don't do something about it, nobody is going to watch the races," Arthur Hancock, owner of Stone Farm and a two-time Derby-winning owner told The Courier-Journal of Louisville last week.
Racing enthusiasts like me have to be reminded that the big crowds, the beauty and the spectacle of the Triple Crown races aren't typical of the sport. On most race days, at tracks across the country - in the stifling heat of midsummer or in the drizzling, cold rain of November - the grandstands hold a few thousand bettors. The races are being staged for the money that can be generated by simulcast betting at other tracks and on the Internet.
Horses fall in those races, too. Horses running races you have never heard of still break their legs, and they still have to be euthanized on the track. It happens. It is a business. You can't save them all.
Millions of dollars were spent trying to save Barbaro. Eight Belles, running the race of her young life, never got the chance to be saved. Let's honor both of them by putting fewer of their amazing breed at risk.
(c) 2008 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dutrow 'all in' with bet on Derby
Trainer plans to bet big on Big Brown on Saturday
By TIM WILKIN, Staff writer
Click byline for more stories by writer.
First published: Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Well, we know one thing about Richard Dutrow Jr., the trainer of Big Brown: he likes to gamble.
There is a saying, sort of a code, Dutrow uses when the big bet is coming and, rest assured, the big bet is coming in Saturday's 134th running of the Kentucky Derby.
All in.
That's what Dutrow and his pals say when the big play is about to be made. And it will be put on the nose of Big Brown.
"We're going to be all in," Dutrow said by phone from Florida last week. "We're all in and we can't wait to bet. This is a horse playing barn, we're players."
So, all in is a little bet?
Dutrow laughs.
"It's the wallet," Dutrow said and laughed some more.
Team Dutrow will bet big on Big Brown, the lightly raced colt who has looked spectacular in his three career starts, winning by a combined 29 lengths.
In his past start, the Florida Derby on March 29, Big Brown drew a lousy post (10) but still laughed at the field, winning by five lengths.
Dutrow and Big Brown traveled from Florida to Kentucky on Monday. Nothing has changed in Dutrow's mind about the outcome of the most famous horse race in America. Big Brown is going to win and he might win big.
"I am confident, I just don't see how he can be beat," Dutrow said. "How can you not be confident in him. No one comes close to his Beyer (speed) figures. If you watch him run, you see no one comes close to him. How can you not be confident?"
There are some things Big Brown will have to figure out. One is the new surface at Churchill Downs. The only tracks the son of Boundary has ever run on are Saratoga on turf (the only start of his 2-year-old year) and Gulfstream Park twice this year.
Like everyone else in the Derby, Big Brown will be trying the 1 1/4-mile distance for the first time.
"He's in the same boat as everyone else," Dutrow said. "The 1 1/4 miles doesn't bother me in the least but it's still something he hasn't done. But I think someone else is going to have to want to go 1 1/4 miles to beat him. As long as things go his way, he should win."
Now that could be the problem. In a 20-horse field, there are pockets of potential problems. A horse can get blocked, he can get squeezed, he can have dirt kicked in his face.
Dutrow knows that but he also knows his horse. When the gates swing open Saturday, Dutrow says that will be the most important part of the Derby. A clean break by Big Brown and he sees a big day.
"In the first 10 jumps, we might have 15 of them beat," Dutrow said.
When Dutrow won the 2005 Breeders' Cup Classic with Saint Liam at Belmont Park (he was all in on that one), he threw a huge party on Long Island. Then-Yankee manager Joe Torre showed up and Bruce Springsteen's sax man, Clarence Clemons, was blowing his horn.
If Big Brown wins the Derby, Dutrow promises another party. At his home on Long Island. After the Belmont Stakes.
The plan is that after winning the Derby, Big Brown will go to Baltimore, win the Preakness, and then claim the Triple Crown with a win in the Belmont.
If that were to be the case, it would be the sport's first Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978.
And Dutrow will be all in on every race.
Tim Wilkin can be reached at 454-5415 or by e-mail at twilkin@timesunion.com.
All Times Union materials copyright 1996-2008, Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation, Albany, N.Y.
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