Doug O'Neill withstood criticism during this year's Triple Crown with more grace than most human beings could muster. And when he was deprived of his shot at the greatest prize in American racing, he took the setback calmly.
The injury sustained by I’ll Have Another, forcing his scratch from the 144th Belmont Stakes the following day, was a deep wound to the heart of the sport, poised as it was to welcome the first Triple Crown winner since 1978 to the ranks of the 11 colts who had come before.
While the defection of I’ll Have Another will certainly enhance their chances of winning Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, trainers Dale Romans, Michael Matz, and Ken McPeek all expressed sympathy for Doug O’Neill and the connections of the injured horse.
Comments made by trainer Doug O'Neill and owner Paul Reddam on Friday, June 8, announcing I'll Have Another's injury and retirement one day before attempting to sweep the Triple Crown in the Belmont Stakes.
With the scratch of I'll Have Another, in an instant, expectations for a 100,000-plus crowd at Belmont on Saturday evaporated. So did the chance for a television audience that would exceed that of nearly any other sporting event of the year. So did the many millions of dollars that NYRA would likely reap from a Triple Crown attempt.
The scratch on Friday of I’ll Have Another from Saturday's 144th Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park has taken the race from a potential Triple Crown bid to an anticlimax to what had been a compelling, controversial Triple Crown series. Derby third-place finisher Dullahan, seventh-place Union Rags, and the Bob Baffert-trained Paynter have become the race's major players.
Someday there may be another Triple Crown winner, but it won’t be I’ll Have Another. In news that was as shocking in its timing as for its substance, I’ll Have Another was not only scratched from Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, but was retired from racing with an injury to the tendon in his left foreleg, his connections announced Friday.
Countdown to the Crown today completes a seventh season online as one of the most comprehensive handicapper’s scouting reports of the 3-year-old scene.
For racing fans old enough to remember Secretariat, Seattle Slew, and Affirmed winning the Triple Crown, many subsequent attempts to sweep the series have seemed almost sacrilegious. Horses such as Real Quiet, Funny Cide, Charismatic, and Big Brown didn't deserve to put their names on a short list with the sport's all-time greats.
If I'll Have Another wins the Belmont Stakes and becomes racing's first Triple Crown winner in 34 years, he will have done something rare and magnificent that a lot of excellent horses have tried and failed to do. This does not mean, however, that he is a good bet at 4-5 or that horseplayers should feel intimidated or unpatriotic for trying to beat him.
