I’ll Have Another scratched due to injury, loses chance at the Triple Crown

UPDATE — I’ll Have Another will not lead the post parade for the Belmont Stakes as originally planned. Instead, the NYRA will hold a retirement ceremony for the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner after the running of the Woodford Reserve Manhattan so fans can see him and pay tribute.

2012 Triple Crown hopeful I’ll Have Another retired. Will not run in Belmont Stakes due to injured tendon. CNN image.

JOE DRAPE, writing for The Rail / New York Times reports:

I’ll Have Another, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner who was aiming to become the 12th horse to win the Triple Crown, was scratched Friday from Saturday’s Belmont Stakes and later retired from racing because of a leg injury.

The 3-year-old colt, who had been a long-shot winner of the Derby and an impressive winner three weeks ago in the Preakness, has tendinitis in his left front leg, his trainer, Doug O’Neill, said.

Trainer Doug O’Neill at a news conference Friday to announce I’ll Have Another’s retirement. Chang W. Lee/The New York Times.

Although the gutsy 3-year old Chestnut I’ll Have Another could fully expect to recover and race again, it was announced at the Friday news conference that he will be retired instead.

Later in the same article Drape states:

O’Neill has insisted he is a clean trainer. He said he welcomed the intense monitoring. But almost inevitably, as soon as word of I’ll Have Another’s injury surfaced online, the wisecracks began, implying there might be an underlying or hidden drug issue involved.

Read full article >>

I’ll Have Another will reportedly lead the Belmont Stakes parade. This idea began drawing criticism almost immediately on Twitter, where the news I’ll Have Another had been scratched was reported prior to the press conference formally announcing it. As a horse doctor tweeted: “Would you walk a half mile with baggage after spraining your ankle just for the cheers?”

NY racing regulators attempt to breathe honesty into the Triple Crown

I’ll Have Another winning the Preakness in 2012, equine nasal strip and all. Not a single concern has been raised until now. Now that I’ll Have Another is running for the troubled racing industry’s Triple Crown at Belmont Park, New York.

I’ll Have Another won’t have another nasal strip

The Daily Post reports that Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner I’ll Have Another will not have another Flair equine nasal strip when he runs in the third leg of the Triple Crown at Belmont Park on June 9th.

When I’ll Have Another bids for the Triple Crown in the June 9 Belmont Stakes, he won’t be allowed to wear the Flair equine nasal strips he wore in all four victories this year, including the Kentucky Derby and Preakness.

According to Dr. Ted Hill, the Jockey Club steward at the NYRA tracks, studies have shown that equine nasal strips can be performance-enhancing by reducing fatigue and possibly preventing bleeding, claims the company makes on its website, flairstrips.com.

If that’s the case, Dr. Hill said, then how do you regulate them? For example, what if it’s raining and the nasal strip comes off in the post parade?

What?

The horse racing industry allows racehorses to run with a panoply of drugs, such as the anti-bleeder Lasix which has reported adverse side effects and believed by reputable veterinarians to be performance-enhancing, but New York regulators are worried about a nasal strip that simply assists breathing?

Instead of barring I’ll Have Another from using them, why not allow everyone to use them? We are told that equine nasal strips are not on any banned list in any horse racing jurisdiction in N. America, and they are far from proved to be performance-enhancing.

And isn’t it a bit late in the day to worry about them? I won’t even comment on the “post parade” and “what if it’s raining” statements.

Read more at NYPost.com >>

Racehorse drugger unhappy about being in detention

In related news, proven racehorse drugger Dale Romans does not like being treated like a criminal, complaining how all Belmont runners being housed in a detention barn.

The Associated Press reports:

Trainer Dale Romans criticized the New York State Racing and Wagering Board’s decision to establish a detention barn to house Belmont Stakes (gr. I) starters, saying regulators “think we’re all crooks.”

Romans will saddle Dullahan, third-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), in an effort to thwart I’ll Have Another in his bid to become the first Triple Crown champion in 34 years. He said the decision by the racing and wagering board failed to put the welfare of horses first.

“They are not cars that you can just go and move from one garage to the next,” Romans said. “These are creatures of habit. They like being where they are.

“The biggest problem we have in our game is the disconnect between the regulators of the game and the reality of what goes on on the backside (barn area).”

Well, what can I say about this sort of thinking? Creatures of habit? What habit does he really have in mind I wonder.

When a trainer such as Romans appears on a repeat offenders list of trainers with numerous medication violations, a record that also includes I’ll Have Another’s trainer Doug “Milkshake” O’Neill, it appears to me that the New York horse racing regulators have valid reason.

Is it not a good idea for New York State Racing and Wagering Board to take these sorts of precautions when this year’s Triple Crown has been plagued with one racehorse drugging headline after another because of the “crooked” histories of many of its trainers?

Read more on BloodHorse.com >>

Please get some sense, balance

This is why horse racing has the reputation of not being able to govern itself sensibly. The industry should seek to bring balanced, principled thinking to it regulations.

Thanks to O’Neill Joe Drape reports horse security tightened by New York Board

Cross-posted from the New York Times

by JOE DRAPE

(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

The 144th running of the Belmont Stakes may or may not produce horse racing’s 12th Triple Crown champion, but New York racing officials are taking measures to ensure that I’ll Have Another’s bid to sweep the series is contested on a level playing field and without illegal drugs.

The authorities said Wednesday that all horses running in the Belmont Stakes would be housed in a single highly secured barn beginning three days before the race.

The steps taken by the authorities also include a set of specific safeguards directed at I’ll Have Another’s trainer, Doug O’Neill, who has racked up multiple violations in a handful of states and was suspended for 45 days last week by California regulators for yet another violation. O’Neill will not have to serve the suspension until after the Belmont. Continue reading >>