California Chrome owner Steve Coburn went on “Good Morning America” with his wife on Monday morning and apologized for the rant he spewed out after his horse failed to capture the Triple Crown on Saturday. Coburn, who was angry that Belmont Stakes winner Tonalist had fresh legs after not running in the Kentucky Derby or the Preakness, fought back tears as he spoke.
“I’m very ashamed of myself,” he said. “I need to apologize to a lot of people, including my wife Caroline. I need to apologize to the winners. They ran a beautiful race. Their horse won the race, they deserve that. I did not mean to take anything away from them.”
Coburn then looked over at his wife and issued an apology. Caroline tried to stop Coburn at one point during his rant on Saturday and he turned around and shouted, “I don’t care!”
“I want to apologize to my wife Caroline,” he continued. “She has literally stood behind me since we started this journey.”
The whole thing reeked of a PR-driven apology, and it was. Coburn ripped Churchill Downs after Chrome won the Preakness, so he is no stranger to going off during interviews. It obviously caught up to him from a negative PR standpoint, especially after he embarrassed his wife on national TV.
