The 2012 Belmont Stakes is the most important thoroughbred race since the last time a horse was within range of the Triple Crown-that was Big Brown, who faltered in the home stretch in 2008-and the New York State Racing and Wagering Board is right to treat it as such. Someone caught cheating in racing's one annual moment in the public eye, with a Triple Crown chance at stake, could set the sport back years with casual fans. With I'll Have Another trainer Doug O'Neill already set to be suspended for different drug violations, things are already fraught.
But given the way trainers for most of the star horses have responded to their newest regulations, it looks like they've officially gone too far in their attempts to tighten up security ahead of the June 9 race. Dullahan's trainer, Dale Romans, went the farthest in his criticism, telling the Associated Press that the move "failed to put the welfare of horses first" in their decision to open up a detention barn into which all the competing horses would be moved.
More Belmont Stakes 2012 coverage from SB Nation St. Louis:
- Another Belmont regulation—the ban on nasal strips—won't bother I'll Have Another, despite his history with them.
- But could jockey Mario Gutierrez's relative inexperience?