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Originally Posted by westcoastinvader
In the spirit of not letting go of the conspiracy theories around Big Brown's loss, I'm still remembering that camera stand on the rail as he was in Post 1.
Not to mention the starter, who inexplicably made the rare decision to stand on the track in what might have been Big Brown's lane after the break.
Just watched for the 394th time or so the replay of Secretariat's Belmont win.
Secretariat wore blinkers, and it was neat to note that his groom removed them on his way to his Winner's Circle photo.
No point, other than maybe if Big Brown had worn blinkers he wouldn't have possibly noted the camera stand.
Now as to the starter on the track...
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I heard this bit about the starter was debunked as not being some sort of freak thing/one time bad decision...at ESPN I think, probably Bill Finley if memory serves but could be wrong. He's stood out on the track for like the last decade or something. Not that it did or didn't affect BB but really it's temporary. A great horse would at most bobble from the surprise then fix himself. Not go up Ravel's tailpipe. And really was nobody paying attention all those years the starter was out there? Has nobody from the 1 hole ever said 'that darn starter screwed me' out of so much as 3rd? Or 'why was he standing out there?' and had a word with the folks at Belmont after the race? No, cuz it didn't really make a difference...for all those horses...except *cough* the one most in need of an excuse.
I'd somehow noticed the blinkers thing from Secretariat but never occurred to me to give it much thought. Thanks for pointing it out. If you think about it a horse like BB that looks around a lot and takes things in really should have those on anyway. I understand appreciating the horse's curiosity and all that but really, focus shall we?