New Joe Drape column in NY Times
 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/sp...s.html?_r=1&hp

"International Equine Acquisitions Holdings is down to four or five horses. In March, it closed an equine hospital near Belmont Park that it had built and operated. The hedge fund never materialized, but lawsuits and complaints of bounced checks and unpaid bills have. "

Why the week before the Breeders Cup is Drape writing about Big Brown?

He is saving the nastier stuff for Friday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/31/sp...?_r=1&src=recg

Maybe he is trying to lull us into a false sense of security with articles like this. Perhaps there'll be something on Life at Ten for the anniversary of that debacle. "Exposé" on drugs and/or corruption in 3..2..1..

Just got around to reading it. I like the "Dutrow revealed Big Brown was undergoing a steroid regimen"... Uh huh. Like much of the rest of the horse population.

In typical Drape fashion attempting to humiliate and injure the industry he misses the much more compelling, intricate and tragic story within Big Brown.. that of Pat Reynolds.

Drape is an utter embarrassment.

Because the week of the Breeders Cup and Ky Derby are when the most eyes are on the sport.

Agree or disagree with the content, the timing makes perfect sense.

and an fn idiot

Can't believe Drape didn't tag the article at the end with "he's no Zenyatta"

I don't always agree with what Joe writes, but I thought this was a fair article, and actually pretty interesting. I'm not sure what people are finding so objectionable about it.

Steve says he should write about Pat Reynolds? Now, I like Pat a lot, but did you really think that one through Steve?

But Big Brown as a stallion isnt really a story, at least not at this point. It is hard to believe that the week prior to the BC that there arent any other compelling stories that could be reported on.

I just think that the timing of the article is unusual considering that the sports championship day is a week later. As bigs pointed out public interest in horse racing peaks right before the Derby and to a lesser extent before the BC and it always seems that Drape finds the most negative angle at those points. Put it this way the week before the Super Bowl football writers arent writing features about the draft.

You mean like Normandruth winning today?:D

Him being 12-1 on the ML was a compelling story.

I didn't think it was such a negative article. Didn't it more or less say, hey I know Big Brown had some negativity around him, but his foals and legacy may be on the upswing?

I get that the stuff about Dutrow and steroids was nonsense, and perhaps misleading, but that stuff is old hat, and it's not as though the uninformed weren't already confused by that. I also get that there might be other, more recent, stories to cover. But, overall, I didn't find this a negative piece.

Maybe I am willing to cut him some slack because he wrote a ton of great stuff from Saratoga this Summer. However, I think if you really look at this piece, it's not a negative article.

It isn't as bad as it could be but of course we are reading from the context of a person who is knowledgeable about the topic. A person who isn't might take this a bit more negatively. I guess I was hoping that the horse racing writer of one of the biggest papers in the country would be writing about the "championship" event that is looming less than a week away.

At least they're talking about horse racing, and let's be honest, this isn't the most compelling of years.

He's a yutz! He throws us a few "nice" pieces now and then, but the complete body of work is generally shitty.

i found it an interesting take, and not all that negative.
after all, i dont know of one ieah fan, rick dutrow isnt exactly going to find much sympathy. meanwhile, the horse seems to be doing well, regardless of his owner and former handler.