Perhaps it’s attributable to three weeks of build up before the race, but some Belmont Stakes’ horse owners are finding the time to speak out against new state-impose rule changes.
2012 Belmont Stakes: Dullahan Trainer Upset With New Rules
Today, Dale Romans, owner of Dullahan, told the Associated Press his feelings regarding stricter drug enforcement and the rule requiring all participating horses to spend the final three days before next Saturday’s third leg of the Triple Crown in a new detention barn.
“[The New York State Racing and Wagering Board] thinks we’re all crooks,” said Romans. “[Horses] are not cars that you can just go and move from one garage to the next. These are creatures of habit. They like being where they are.”
On Thursday, the NYSRW announced that a “detention barn” would open for all horses participating in the Belmont Stakes on Tuesday.
Dullahan finished third in the 2012 Kentucky Derby, and arrived in Belmont earlier this week after training in Louisville’s Churchill Downs.
The horse did not participate in the Preakness Stakes.
Romans added that while he thinks the forced relocation to a new barn early next week will aggravate Dullahan, he does not expect it to actually affect the outcome of the race.
Doug O’Neill, the trainer for race favorite and Triple Crown chasing I’ll Have Another, expects to move his horse to a new barn on Monday.
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