Who thinks that the Belmont was fixed?

Question

I understand the concern for the horse's safety but yanking a horse up in the homestretch of a race is nearly, if not more dangerous than letting it gallop out the rest of the race comfortably. The jockey said that the horse merely felt tired. The stories even read that Brown was still running hard around the turn as Kent was pulling him up. It just seems so fishy and perhaps even unsportsmanly on Kent's part! If he can't nab first place, he won't play at all? Come now! Also consider the fact that Big Brown's owners were already in contract with Three Chimney's Farm for stud rights. Perhaps there was some clause in the contract with regard to Brown's performance in the Belmont. They pay some amount less for the stud rights if he can't place or show but if he's injured (or we think he's injured) then they'll still pay top dollar. He should have been give his head to let it be seen where he would have finished. Now the world will never know his true ability.

Answer 1

I definately don't. Do you knowhow hard it would be to fix a race with numerous 1,200 lb animals that are pumped up on adrenaline and testosterone. Not to mention they don't teach racehorses very many manners and behavioral skills. Plus I applaud Big Brown's jockey for pulling him up to save his hoof. His hoof was damaged in the first place and he shouldn't have even been running on it. Please keep in mind horses don't fully mature and their muscles/bones don't develop till they are five. Racehorses are 2 and 3. It is cruel and abusive that these immature horses are exposed to all of this stress and pressure that wrecks their legs and hooves completely ruining them. Then when you breed these broken down horses to each other they pass down unsoundness to each other and Big Brown's genetics finally caught up with him and I think it served his owners right to have their big money horse lose and have them lose all of that money.

Yes, half or more of each field would get pulled up if that was a legit reason but these jockeys continually pound these horses into the ground and keep running them ragged and on bad feet. It's all for the money so they keep running them even if they are injured, also these horses are breed to run and when they start its hard to stop them even when they are injured. I do not think it was fixed but I do believe it is abusive and cruel and the whole industry of horse racing fixes itself for disappointment and heartbreak.

Answer 2

It was a smart choice remember the eight belles tragedy all becuase she was pushed too hard, when it is over 100 degrees and you have a horse worth over1,000,000 dollars i don't think you wanna risk it's life

Answer 3

fffreak4 said it the best... Onnn the dot..

if you understand horse betting at all--you'd realize that big brown not finishing in the TOP FIVE or SIX, kills 100% of people who know anything about horse track betting, because obviously they'd have Big Brown in their super-trifecta, or theyre exacta boxes or whatever,... sothe  jockie obviously got money fever and took the bribe over wanting to win the triple crown.

Answer 4

I have no suspicions of a fixed race, only that he was wisely eased up in the final stretch when Desormeaux could not tap that big acceleration. After all, he was piloting a $50 million dollar horse and so why risk that breeding rights contract deal for place or show money if there might have been something seriously wrong with Big Brown? Fact is, with that deal done and the contract in hand before the Belmont Stakes race, and a place in history winning the Triple Crown and the $600000 1st place share of the $1 million dollar purse adding no more money to the already done breeding rights deal, I would not have raced him at all. The moment I had that contract in hand I would not have risked him in another race and I would have placed him under 24 hour armed guard and hired a 24 hour veterinary nurse to watch over his health. Since he was in tune with Big Brown and not wanting to chance that there might be something seriously wrong with him, Desormeaux did right to ease him up when he could not tap that acceleration in the stretch to the wire.

Answer 5

I would rather see a jockey pull up a horse and be cautious than keep urging him on in case there was something wrong. big brown will defintitely still make a mint in stud fees (his estimated worth after the preakness was 50-60 million - not even counting winning the belmont - if he had he would have been worth 150 mil).Plus that is all PETA needed was for another horse to break down so they could blame another jockey/trainer. The guys who owned him were hugging him in the AP photos - probably relieved he was sound so he could make them money when he is retired to stud. It is possible - maybe someone took more money home for the colt to lose - i dont guess someone had a hit out on the colt and they had to throw the race. Who knows --- i just think he had an off day, but i think he will do well in future races that he is in. We just have to wait for another Triple Crown winner - hopefully not another 30 years

Answer 6

I don't think it was fixed, but i agree that pulling him up was very strange.  Why not just let him finish running the race?

Answer 7

Look at the replays again. The horse was rank early, he ran about 8 wide down the backstretch, he threw his head in the air, was steadied 2 or 3 times.

This was certainly not a horse who was focused and giving his best effort.

Still, he managed to be within striking distance at the final turn, but he did not respond to the jockey asking him for his 'run'.

This is a horse who is going to make ALOT of money in stud fees. The jockey realized the horse wasn't firing. He didn't know the reason for this as there was no apparent injury - so he pulled him up as a precaution in case there was some issue he was unaware of.

This actually happens alot more than you might think.

Answer 8

I'm not.  Why chance a serious injury?  Sure, it would have been great to have a triple-crown winner.  But if you're the horse's owner or jockey, and the animal clearly isn't going to win, why take the chance of getting him killed.  He's worth a FORTUNE in stud fees - why take the chance of ruining that because he breaks a leg????

Answer 9

LOL!!!  If I lost money on Big Brown, I would probably say that it was fixed too.

Here's a lesson to all who are newbies to horse racing, watch the sport for awhile (at least a year starting today).  When you learn the intracacies and the nuances and start getting familiar of the sport, then you can start making educated bets on the ponies.

Seriously, anybody who watches horse racing for a long time knew Big Brown wasn't going to win the Belmont.

Answer 10

Actually, if you want to call it "fixed" - my feeling is it was fixed by the JOCKEYS!

I wrote this exact question here and was told it was absolutely done!!

Here, read this!

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

I have read a couple of people who feel this was the case yesterday.

Everyone is looking at all of the OBVIOUS things!

I absolutely see this now...and it would take a lot of proof for me to believe this is not the case now.

Here is a post from someone that explains it really well.  I had read it from someone else earlier, but this is what solidified it for me.

http://community.nytimes.com/article/com...

Read post 99

Answer 11

The Belmont was fixed. Period. All of the other people that answered are looking at what they want you to think.

I heard on T.V. that there was roughly 53 million bet just on Big Brown to win which is excluding all the other bets that include top three finishers etc. The people involved with Big Brown in some way got a cut of the profit. You might say 'well if he wins then the horse is worth 100 million' and I respect that statement. However I do not believe that the jockey, trainer, and others want to stop racing. It is in their blood and more than likely they don't want to give it up. The reason why Big Brown put his head up a couple times and looked uneasy is because he was being held back. In the derby and preakness he went into a gear no other horse could match near the end and that is proof that he was being held up.

Also note that we haven't had a triple crown winner for thirty years which means this has been going on for a long time

The truth hurts, I know.

Answer 12

if you remeber he had a quarter crack in his hoof why do farther damage when he wasn't showing any speed at all.. remember what hapened in the Kentucky Derby..horse raceing really couldn't take another hit like that