smith,
Lot of us on the board are suspicious of 2 trainers who have been suspended 100 times combined. When you have Graham Motion with over 10,000 starts and no drug violations that's a big disparity.
If you watch the replay, its obviously Kent starting asking the horse just prior to the mile mark. He asked him and nothing, asked him again and nothing again, so it appears at just after midpoint of the race Brown had nothing.
Even as they headed into the first turn, Brown moved way too far off the rail almost as if he knew where Kent wanted him to go, but the legs didn't cooperate. If Desormeaux knew that he had plenty in the tank, he could have sat patiently around the turn and then move to the outside. And why not, Brown had been so dominant most players wouldn't care if the horse lost a little ground in a 1 1/2 mile race.
I've always thought horses that can't make a tight turn are showing signs of being tired, even though the race was 20 seconds old and the turns are so sweeping at Belmont. It's also possible Brown was a little rank early, throwing is head early on and the turn just came up faster than expected.
I was thrilled that Brown was beaten, I was also thrilled when O'Neill scratched IHA prior to the Belmont.
Dutrow or O'Neill as the winner of the Triple Crown would have been disgusting.
At least if Chrome pulls it off, the history of Sherman hasn't been overshadowed by chronic suspensions due to medications.
I'm just speculating about everything here except the idea that horse racing's next Triple Crown winner should come from a barn with connections that haven't been marred in cheating for years and years and years. FWIW.
