JOLLY DAYS

Big Brown Should Lose

After watching parts of a Charlie Rose show devoted to Big Brown and the potential for a Triple Crown winner I came across this article, turning things most sour. The writer, a fan of horse racing, felt Big Brown's winning would send the wrong message.

The op-ed piece says Big Brown's

… main owner is International Equine Acquisitions Holdings, whose stated purpose is to be an equine hedge fund that delivers profits to its investors by consistently racing winners. When you run your stable like a hedge fund, the horse becomes just another commodity to be bought and sold like a share of stock, with little concern for its fate…Rooting for the firm and its co-president and public face, Michael Iavarone (who was fined and suspended in 1999 by the National Association of Securities Dealers for unauthorized trades and who was ordered to pay a judgment in 2003 for not paying for horses he bought at auction), would be validating a “win at any price” mentality.

The op-ed columnist goes on about the former trainer whom he feels to be dubious, and the use of drugs(!) in horse racing,

And that’s to say nothing about the overuse of corticosteroids and painkillers that have ruined the lives of thousands of race horses by enabling them to run when they shouldn’t, causing irreparable injuries. Forget the illegal drugs; the legal ones are pretty awful, too.

It turns out the Charlie Rose piece, focusing on the sentimental connection which the team of trainers had to the beautiful animal, had a dark underlayer which Charlie, for whatever reason, of ignorance or of volition, didn't examine.