California Chrome’s Owner Steve Coburn Blasts Horse Racing Industry After CA Chrome’s 4th Place Finish in Belmont, “It’s Not Fair” … “This is a Coward’s Way Out!!!”

Once again The Belmont proved to be the graveyard of Triple Crown glory as California Chrome, the winner of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness came up short and finished tied for 4th in his bid for horse racing immortality. The mile and a half proved to be too much for California Chrome, that and a questionable ride by his jockey, as in my opinion he should have stayed along the rail and taken the lead in a very slow paced Belmont. That being said, it was not lost on the owner of California Chrome that the horses that finished ahead of him and crushing Chrome’s Triple Crown glory were fresh horses that neither ran in the Derby or Preakness.

Following the race, California Chrome’s Owner Steve Coburn blasted horse racing, “It’s not fair to the horses that have been in the game since day one. [...] “This is a coward’s way out, in my opinion. If you’ve got a horse, run him in all three.”

New York Times:

“It’s not fair to the horses that have been in the game since Day 1,” Coburn said on NBC.

Other than California Chrome, only Ride On Curlin and General A Rod were in all three Triple Crown races this year. The Belmont winner, Tonalist, was the most lightly raced entrant.

Coburn proposed that the last two legs of the Triple Crown series be restricted to Derby participants.

“It’s all or nothing,” said Coburn, 61, who said he did not expect to see another Triple Crown champion under the current format. “This is not fair to these horses that have been running their guts out for these people who believe in them.”

He added: “This is a coward’s way out, in my opinion. If you’ve got a horse, run him in all three.”

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