You know what’s crazy? I’ll tell you what’s crazy™
The California Chrome Rant
As you have undoutedbly heard, California Chrome lost the Belmont on Saturday.
The Belmont is the 3rd race in the triple crown that starts with the Kentucky Derby, followed by the Preakness.
It’s the Holy Grail of horse racing.
There hasn’t been a triple crown winner since 1978 when Affirmed won. Before that Secretariat.
Races have come and races have gone. Unless you shovel horse crap and sell big fancy hats for a living, chances are you can’t name the winner of the Kentucky Derby or the Preakness 2 years ago.
That’s because horse racing is a niche sport that has a following somewhere between badmitton and skunk juggling.
But Horse Racing is also the king of sports with its aristocratic pomp and pagentry, and that may also play a role in this simmering controversy.
This story starts 36 years ago. That’s how long it’s been since America saw its last triple crown winner.
What were you doing 36 years ago?
Were you alive? Did you have kids? Did you have a hair cut fashioned after a possum?
Grease was the number one movie in 1978. Saturday Night Fever the number one album. The cowboys actually won the Super Bowl.
It’s been 36 years since since a super horse has knocked on America’s door and walked in for crumpets and hay.
It’s been 36 years since a horse has captured America’s heart winning all three races.
You know why no horse has won in 36 years?
It’s damn hard.
It’s harder than sending your own mother to rehab.
It’s harder than shaving under your arms with broken glass.
It’s the horse racing equivalent of parallel parking a dump truck hauling live bees.
The triple crown has been around since the early 20’s. The rules are historically unfair.
Some, like California Chromes owner, argue horses that are well rested can enter any of the races essentially knocking the “tired” triple crown hopeful out of the running.
That is the basis of controversy this year.
More on that in a second.
This year there was a buzz.
It started with a little horse named California Chrome.
Oh sure, the horse racing afficianados knew the horse. They knew the story of the Dumb Asses who bought the horse for 10 thousand dollars.
But America doesn’t care about horse racing till the Derby.
So a little horse named California Chrome wins the derby. Whoever wins the derby always begins the question ;Can they win the triple crown?
Win the Derby and America takes notice. We paid attention to the California Chrome’s bumble-stiltskin owners who spoke in a folksy every man kind of way.
They told us Chrome was the little engine who could and the people’s champion. They were dumb asses who gambled and won. These owners were your uncle, your grandpa, the post man who rings twice.
Suddenly California Chrome was a known commodity.
California Chrome and his owners were good for a sport that often fades down the stretch.
The owners and the horse had an every man feel about them.
The Preakness is the 2nd jewel in the triple crown. The horse ran his race and won again.
Now the buzz was palpable. Could Chrome win the Belmont?
2 down, 1 to go.
The weeks in between are filled with so many interviews you’d think Chrome’s owners were running for President of Earth.
Steve Coburn is one of the Co-owners of California Chrome. To the casual sports fan, Coburn became television wall paper showing up everywhere doing interviews. He sells himself as a blue collar every man with a folksy us against the world attitude.
I see him on ESPN. I see him on GMA. I see him on 60 minutes. If there is a way to get on tv or radio or spread a message about his horse, Coburn finds away to do it.
This is a passage from SFGATE prior to the Belmont Stakes: “We have pissed off a lot of people in Kentucky, and in the thoroughbred industry,” chuckled Steve, sitting in his favorite local lunch spot, Hamdogs, where beer is the drink of choice and meat sandwiches are small mountains. “They’ve thrown everything at this colt, and he’s proved them wrong over and over again – and they just can’t figure it out.”
This may be foreshadowing. You see horse racing is the sport of kings and kings don’t like when peasants steal the stage.
Some argue the other owners purposely were gunning for California Chrome.
Well it’s a horse race. It would stand to reason that everyone is gunning for the favorite.
So weeks go by. The Chrome P.R. macine is running rampant like a hopped up garden weasel.
Suddenly school kids know the name of the little underdog horse named California Chrome
June 7th 2014.
The Belmont Stakes is a star studded event. NBC spends 2 hours building up the suspense. 120 thousand people reportedly fill the grandstands for this amazing moment.
Then the horses break from the gate.
Chrome races in the middle of the mud and dirt and between horses where he reportedly hates to be.
At the end of the 1.5 miles, he is out of the money, tieing for 4th.
Some horse won, but honestly, I can’t tell you the horses name. Honestly, I don’t care. History is lost and the sport is relegated to who cares status once again.
But then a funny thing happens on the way to the commercial break.
The interviews begin airing.
California Chrome Jockey, Victor Espinoza says “he was empty today. He tried. He struggled form the 3/8 pole.”
Then the controversy explodes out of the bog like the Loch Ness Monster battling Big Foot with paint ball guns.
Reporters ask the jockey if it’s fair for a horse to be entered in the Belmont that didn’t run in the two previous races.
“I think they should leave it the same,” Espinoza said.
California Chrome co-owner Steve Coburn isn’t so diplomatic.
“Coward’s way,” He blurted out repeatedly as NBC cameras approached him for reaction.
Suddenly the blue collar owner who was folksy and fun was angry and distraught.
It’s easy to win. Seems like losing tests your patience and reveals your character.
Some say Coborn’s bitterness borders on poor sportsmanship.
“It’s not fair to these horses running their guts out for these people, ” he said. “This is a cowards way out. Our horse had a target on his back. They sit one out and they won’t run, they wait till the Belmont. If you got a horse run him in all three races. This is the cowards way out,” he says. His wife is behind him trying to hush him.
Most casual fans didn’t even think about this point system till Coburn went on his bitter tyrade.
Coburn is addressing the history of the triple crown itself.
His horse qualified and ran the Kentucky Derby, then the Preakness, and then the Belmont.
But there is no rule that says a horse has to run all three.
So the horse that won the Belmont was in fact a well rested ringer. The horse that won the Belmont was a horse that was fresh, that was rested, and was only running the Belmont.
It’s what makes the Triple Crown so hard,” an NBC announcer points out commenting immediately on the sore loser’s rant.
Win the Belmont and the little horse that has captured America’s attention wins the triple crown.
To the casual fan it doesn’t seem that hard.
Horses race. They race around a track. What’s the difference if a horse runs in 2 races or three races. There are at least 2 weeks in between races. So what?
Apparently it matters.
36 years would indicate it maters.
And now California Chrome’s reputation is tarnished. There is a chink in Chrome’s armor. Or at least the horse’s owner’s reputation is damaged.
California Chrome is still a galloping, 10 million dollars, sperm bank.
But his owners will never be viewed the same.
Coburn’s rant, while honest and heart felt, probably needed to be muted, filtered, rethought.
People often speak harshly after a loss. Anyone who ever put a microphone in front of Bill Parcels or Mike Ditka after a tough NFL loss knows that. Their words could be blistering, scathing.
Sadly, this rant will live forever. It will be played every single year as horses fill the gate and prance in the paddock. It will forever be the bitter rant uttered by the blue collar beer drinker who tried to thumb his nose at the kings.
The aristocrats who sip Dom Perignon with their pinky’s extended will say I told you so.
Winning is easy.
Losing is what tests your metal.
“Our horse had a target on his back,” he said.
Yep. He probably did Mr. Coburn. That’s sports. Just ask Peyton Manning about having a target on his back. You think the Seattle Seahawks knew what number he was wearing?
36 years?
Will it be 36 more years before a horse wins all three races.
Coburn himself says It’s like an ironman competition, 1 mile swim, 100 mile bike ride, 26 mile run.
If you only have to do one of the 3 events, chances are you will be stronger than your competitors doing all three.
My dad argues the Belmont rules should be amended. He agrees with Chrome’s owners that the Triple Crown is not fair and that only horses that qualify for all three events should get to run in all three events. “no ringers” he says. “It’d be like letting a team into the NBA playoffs that has been resting for a couple of weeks,” he argues.
I would argue it’s more like a grand slam in tennis. The French, the U.S. and wimbledon are all singular events. If you win all three you are the triple crown winner. You may face players who didn’t play in the other two tournaments. If you beat them, then you deserve to call yourself the best.
It’s been 36 years since a triple crown winner was crowned.
My son is 15. Since he was born a triple crown winner has never been crowned.
Look in the mirror. What’s your hair look like? Take a picture, email it to your future grandkids.
It could be 36 more years before it happens again.
Life’s Crazy™