[Antitrust32]

Originally Posted by King Glorious

I know that there will always be those that want to keep blinders on. Nobody ever said that every horse that runs in the race is going to come out hurt or suffer later. But the percentage of those that come out of that race to either never run again, never win again, or not even finish out the year is too high for me. In my 22 years of watching the sport, I've seen far too many horses that run in the Belmont and are seriously affected in one or more of the three ways I mentioned above.

Ferdinand, Risen Star, Hansel, Pine Bluff, Prairie Bayou, Thunder Gulch, Silver Charm, Real Quiet, Charismatic, Monarchos, Point Given, Empire Maker, Smarty Jones, Giacomo, Afleet Alex, Jazil, Rags to Riches.

To be fair, in the cases of Silver Charm, Real Quiet, Charismatic and Smarty Jones, they had to be there and I would have run there with them too. But I can't help but feel that there is some connection to that race and these horses suffering the problems they have. And it seems like it's getting worse. If it's acceptable for u that there is a 50/50 chance that if u run in that race, your career is basically over (or at least your season), then u run. For me, that's just too high a percentage. Maybe some of u are ok with losing at least one major horse every year out of the Belmont Stakes. I'm not. We've lost Rags in 07, Jazil in 06, Alex and Giacomo in 05, Smarty in 04, Empire Maker in 03, Point Given and Monarchos in 01, Charismatic in 99, Real Quiet in 98 and Silver Charm in 97. This is good for the sport how? Sure, injuries can and do happen at any time. Sure, PG, Empire Maker and Rags were injured in subsequent races. And I'm not even saying that there is conclusive proof that the Belmont has anything to do with this. But it is a fact that all of these horses have that one thing in common.

How the hell is Silver Charm on that list. Didnt he win the Dubai WC the following year?? Giacomo?? Didnt he run like 4,000 times after that race. It wasnt the belmont that made him a loser, he just wasnt the best horse out there and won a dream set-up derby. The Belmont has absolutely nothing to do with Gaicomo's downfall. Point Given can not be on this list either. I'll give you Jazil and Afleet Alex and of course Charismatic, who broke his freakin leg in the race.. Oh yeah, that must have been the Belmont Stakes fault. No possible way he took a bad step.

I will make a point similar to yours. All horses who were injured ran in maiden races. I think maiden races are the reason horses get injured. And I'm not even saying that there is conclusive proof that the Maiden races have anything to do with this. But it is a fact that all of these horses have one thing in common.