Steve Coburn, the outspoken owner of Triple Crown contender California Chrome, went off on a big rant after his horse lost the Belmont Stakes Saturday to fall short of the Triple Crown.
Coburn was fuming that his horse finished fourth and that the winner — Tonalist — had fresh legs for the Belmont.
Unlike Chrome, which won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, Tonalist did not run in the first two legs of the Triple Crown and therefore was not as worn down as many of the other horses.
Owners holding their horses out of some of the Triple Crown races has become common over the years, which gives those horses a major advantage over the ones running in all three. That is probably the biggest reason why we have not seen a Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978, and Coburn does not think that should be allowed.
“It’s not fair to these horses that have been in the game since day one. I look at it this way: if you can’t make enough points to race to get into the Kentucky Derby, you can’t run in the other two races.”
What was great was how his wife tried to get him to stop ranting and he responded, “I don’t care!”
Steve Coburn ranting and his wife telling him to stop and he turns around saying "well I don't care!" #BelmontStakes pic.twitter.com/rrn4RfqtJ7
— Julia Hoffman (@juliatherosee) June 7, 2014
Coburn is not stranger to going off in interviews. After his horse won the Preakness, he used his interview as an opportunity to rip Churchill Downs.
