Street Sense to skip Belmont

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Originally Posted by Cardus

The biggest "sport" of this year's Triple Crown is Larry Jones.

I'd actually cast my vote for the impossible to root for Steve Asmussen.

IMO, Larry Jones wasn't being a "straight-shooter" with some of the things he'd said after the Southwest Stakes with Hard Spun. I realize he trains for an owner who seems like a pest, and he's not a "big name" trainer---but, that wasn't straight-talk coming out of LJ's mouth. He may have "cowboy" as his nickname...and may try to act like he's not the sharpest tool in the shed...but I've heard other quotes from him that suggest to me that he has a racing IQ above the average trainer.

To Asmussen's credit....he's stayed the course with Curlin. He didn't go out of his way to make a case that his horse ran as well as Street Sense in the Derby inspite of the 8 length margin of defeat---and believe me, it wouldn't have been hard to make that case. And, he was also the only trainer who took the heat and allowed HBO's Real Sports to interview him in the story they did about top trainers and their bad tests.

While Nafzger may not win any awards for "best sport" --- I'm sure he's doing only what he believes is right by the horse...and how much can you really fault him for that?