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Originally Posted by Merlinsky
That's not disappointment. That's bad sportsmanship, and initially he not only didn't apologize, he doubled-down on it. Most people who lose their chance at the Triple Crown don't do this.
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Seeing as how the sample size for people who lost a chance at a Triple Crown is quite small, I'm not sure what one can draw from that. All the others had a considerably longer history of racehorse ownership. Even the Sackatoga guys had been in it almost 8 years by the time Funny Cide won the Derby.
I find the pearl-clutching by horse racing fans over an owner mouthing off hilarious. Oh, heaven forfend, an owner who lost a race he thought he'd win said something rude in the heat of the moment. THIS IS THE WORST THING EVER TO HAPPEN IN THE HISTORY OF THE SPORT.
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I'm not gonna go back and reread the great apology tour effort.
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Why not? If you're going to speculate about what you think his motivations for apologizing are, it would be helpful to at least read what he actually said. It came across quite sincere to me. Sure, two days late, but he's hardly the first owner in the history of sports to have mouthed off. And he didn't use any profanity in his meltdown, which is more than you can say for the key players in many sports.
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They can't be new to the sport AND claim wisdom in breeding decisions. Gotta pick one. If they knew enough to pat themselves on the back for the latter, then they aren't the former. If they relied on luck and naivete as new breeders, frankly it's irresponsible.
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Being new and thinking you know more than you do are not mutually exclusive. There's a reason second-year students are called "sophomores." It roughly translates as "know it all." There are plenty of people in this world who confuse being lucky with being good.
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Why does it never seem to sink in with some new owners that if they're new, maybe they don't know enough to make the call about where to run a horse?
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I would argue that flaw is not limited to new owners.
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These owners alternate between swing for the fences naivete and attempts at calculation. At some point, a sensible person knows what they don't know. They stubbornly refuse to deal with that.
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And this year they're learning how hard the game can be, what with Chrome and now Hope's Love both out for the rest of the year. They're still new at this. Martin will have years to learn how lucky he was with Chrome and that luck like that doesn't usually strike twice (hi, Cash is King!). I'm not certain the Coburns will stay in the business, and it does sound like the friendship Coburn had with Martin is over, which is a shame. In the words of that great philosopher Cyndi Lauper, money changes everything.
In the end, I'm far less upset by an owner offending my tender sensibilities with bad on-camera behavior than I am by an owner taking a horse away from the small-time trainer that started him and giving him to a big-name trainer just as the horse is getting really good. Coburn and Perry stuck with Sherman and gave Hope's Love to Sherman's son to train. Coburn mouths off and Perry has no comprehension of how the bloodstock market works, what with his obsession with raising Chrome's stud value, but when it counted, they danced with the one that brung them, and when Art Sherman passes away (not until years from now, I hope) his obituary will lead with, "Art Sherman, Kentucky Derby winning trainer of..." Far as I'm concerned, Coburn and Martin would have to do a lot more bad to cancel out the good karma they earned by keeping the horse with Sherman for the Triple Crown.
Mind you, if Chrome does come back at 5 and Taylor Made persuades Martin to change to a bigger trainer, then I'll spew plenty of venom.