I think you nailed it

Hate to get in the middle of you two ladies' scuffle, but this is incorrect. Even if Eight Belles were alive and kickin', no one would care much about Big Brown. Rooting for Dutrow is about as fun as rooting for Rex Tillerson.

I dont know.. I think people would be more excited about the race and BBrown's awesome performance if the race had not been marred by Tragedy.

I know I would be. I guess I'm just rooting for big brown because he's a talented horse and I'm not forming my opinion of the horse based around his trainer. The only negative opinions of horses that I had were the Thoroughbred Corp's horses cause I hate the prince. And even that I had to get over a little cause I loved Point Given (granted i didnt have an opinion on the prince with PG was running).

Surely there would be more celebration of the PERFORMANCE had Eight Belles not gone down, but I don't think there would be any more enthusiasm for THE HORSE. Eight Belles living or dying doesn't have any effect on the fact that Big Brown has unlikeable connections. As a fan, I'd love to see a Triple Crown winner, but there's part of me that wants to see him get beaten because I'm not a Dutrow fan. If Big Brown had just about any other trainer (save for the other juicers), I'd be full bore rooting for him to win the Crown.

no. i was completely disgusted that big brown won. then the news came of the filly, and that just added to my already incredibly low feelings.

i can't remember every rooting against a horse as much as i did this one. of course it helped my perspective when someone else actually said they wanted him to be injured (but not bad :rolleyes: ) as i would not wish harm to the horse...but, you have a horse with only four starts, with a scumbag trainer and scumbag owners.
not the horses fault, but certainly not a horse you can get behind.

It's not a good idea to get behind any horse...unless your name is sumitas and the horse is Golden...err nvmd.

cant blame the horse..

:eek:

obviously. but doesn't mean you have to root for him either. he'll have a cloud of suspicion over his head, and no one to blame but his owners. why? look who they hired, look at who trained previously.

Just for the record, I'll be rooting for Big Brown to win the Triple Crown. Since I've been involved in the game I've never seen it happen. I don't have any care in the world as to who the owners are. For me it doesn't have to be a "cookie cutter" deal where everyone is in love with the horse and connections. Some of you feel differently, and that's fine. Let's just get through the rest of this without another breakdown. Don't give any more ammo to these asswipes from PETA.

I can't help but disagree. I think the Big Brown is awesome and I wish him the best. Yes..his trainer and owners are NOT endearing. That's being kind! But don't forget Curlin, owned by fen-phen fraudsters. These great animals can't pick their connections. Root for the horse and this great sport. We need heros.

i will root for him all the way...i dont see any reason to think hes been medicated..just look at him run........hes desroyed all he faced sence the first time he ran..the sad thing is there should be about 16 more with him this year..that have that ability..to run figs over 105........

i just think that wins by horses for shady connections somehow glosses over their uh...'contributions' to the sport. as tho they achieve legitimacy by having a top horse. sort of like steve asmussen last year. he went from pariah down a years suspension for two huge drug positives (the second six month suspension was waived for some reason) to being a media darling... all past transgressions seemingly forgotten.

I'm with you on the human connections. The cream doesn't rise to the top..it seems like the scum rises to the top. Asmussen and Dutrow are not trainers for the ages.
To me it's about the horses...I can't forget the excitement of seeing Affirmed/Alydar (yes, I'm admitting my age) in the Belmont. I want to see a horse like this again. This horse seems like he could be that kind. That will be the fun will be in rooting for Brown. I'd be hard pressed to remember the names of the horses involved in some of my biggest scores at the track but I still have the uncashed $2 win ticket on Affirmed.
Good luck to you and all the lively posters on DT.

hmmmm I'm not so sure that Laz Barrera was squeaky clean.

Touché.

Just like you can't pick your parents, a horse can't pick his or her connections. I understand why people feel the way they do, but in the end the only thing that matters is the horse. As much as I hate that he beat me on Saturday, I can root for Big Brown because the only thing he is guilty of is winning race after race.

yeah, four times! he just passed danzig for wins in a row.:rolleyes:

no, seriously...i had a thought. maybe for dutrow and assmussen, it's poetic justice. they remain in a sport( that if it had the same teeth as other sports, they would NOT still be a part of) and manage to find a legit horse. but now (thanks to karma?) they'll always feel slighted, because the horse will always be questioned..because of their shady, cheating, conniving, thieving pasts. so, they'll always be defensive, and there isn't a damn thing they can do about it but take it.
of course, they'll laugh all the way to the bank-but part of them will always feel this slight, the doubt some will have that the horse really did it the right way.

I do think the competion or lack there of (so far) is an issue. Right now, he looks much the best of a shallow 3 year old pool.

I'm old enough to remember Seattle Slew quite well, and in fact walked in Belmont at about 6AM or so on the morning of his Triple Crown win and ended up with primo seats at the finish line. I'll never forget it, and still have at least one uncashed $2 dollar ticket.

Point is, that Seattle Slew had all kinds of naysayers during his unbeaten run up to and through the Triple Crown. Lots of 'em.

At Belmont, not only was he "no Secretariat" to fans in the stands before the race that day, he was also "no Forego."

"He's just run well enough to win against mediocre horses" was the near universal mindset of racing fans and writers in 1977, with visions of Secretariat fresh in the mind.

I heard it so much at the time, I sort of believed it myself.

That's why I was especially happy in the years after his Triple Crown that he so excelled as a stallion.

Even more proof for eternity Seattle Slew was the real deal.

For the record, there's no way I can pull against an undefeated Kentucky Derby winner in the remaining Triple Crown races.

Especially one who won the Florida Derby, and then the Kentucky Derby in such spectacular and dominating fashion.