If Big Brown wins the Derby ...

There will be no on-the-record statements of uneasiness from racing’s leaders, but there is an undercurrent of speculation concerning what might follow a victory in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday by the currently in vogue colt widely seen as a potential superstar.

Along with discussion of a potential Triple Crown, a victory by Big Brown would trigger examination of the role played by steroids in racing, medication, legal and illegal. It is impossible to ignore these issues in regard to any horse trained by Richard Dutrow Jr.

Think image.

Think perception.

Consider the torrent of scrutiny, innuendo and conjecture that would follow a victory by Big Brown in the Kentucky Derby.

Think four-legged Barry Bonds.

The fact is this: Dutrow’s checkered past is accompanied by an unsavory reputation widely shared by the core of racing fans and horseplayers, who view both him and his success in the dim light of suspicion.

And also this: Dutrow has, in a short period of time, risen from virtual obscurity to build one of the nation’s most powerful stables, one that has produced a Horse of the Year, Breeders’ Cup Classic winner St. Liam, winners of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint and Mile, two races on the Dubai World Cup supporting card and three New York training titles.

But Dutrow has never had a Derby horse until now. He is about to discover that while his past successes have been chronicled for the most part in the trade and niche media, success in the Kentucky Derby brings the world to your doorstep and the subject of is past transgressions will be high on the list of pre-Preakness storylines.

If perception is indeed reality, his critics view Dutrow’s success as evidence of more than misplaced distrust.

There is history.

Trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. was slapped with a 14-day suspension and a $25,000 fine by the New York State Racing and Wagering Board for violating the terms of a suspension he served back in 2005.

According to Carmine Donofrio, the NYSRWB steward, Dutrow was found to have had contact with his barn help during the time he was serving a 60-day suspension in the spring and summer of 2005. Trainers on suspension are forbidden from contacting their assistants.

"He was doing things he shouldn't have been doing," Donofrio said.

On June 1, 2005, Dutrow, who that year trained eventual Horse of the Year Saint Liam, Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Silver Train and stakes winners Offlee Wild and Sis City, began serving a 60-day suspension for two past medication positives as well as a claiming rules violation.

"They subpoenaed my help's phone records and my owner's phone records and they said I billed my owners when I was suspended," Dutrow said. "They're doing what they have to do I guess."

Last Thursday, Dutrow returned from a seven-day suspension for an overage of phenylbutazone, a painkiller, found in a post-race sample taken from Privy Seal, who finished fourth in the fourth race at Belmont Park on Oct. 15, 2006.

Dutrow has horses in New York, south Florida and Southern California. His horses in New York will run under the name of assistant Juan Rodriguez.

 Daily Racing Form, February, 2007


Dutrow received a 45-day suspension and $3,000 fine for a positive test of the prohibited drug Mepivacaine, found in Farmer Jake after a third-place finish in the sixth race on April 27, 2003, at Aqueduct.

Dutrow received a $2,000 fine and 15-day suspension for a positive test of the prohibited drug clenbuterol, found in Starship Smokester after a win in the second race at Aqueduct on January 11, 2004.

Dutrow also was cited for violating a state rule stipulating that a horse cannot be resold for 30 days after being claimed. Dutrow claimed Cap for owner Sanford Goldfarb out of the first race at Belmont Park on May 16, 2004. The board said Dutrow transferred Cap to Lawrence Roman, who was ineligible to claim, on May 19 and then raced the horse in Goldfarb's name on June 12 at Belmont.

 Thoroughbred Times

The New Jersey Racing Commission suspended trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. for 14 days and fined him $5,000 for giving false or misleading statements during the course of an investigation. The suspension began Sunday, one day after Dutrow won the $2 million Breeders' Cup Mile at Monmouth Park.

Jockey Rudy Rodriguez, who works as an assistant to Dutrow, was suspended seven days and fined $1,000.

The suspensions came as a result of an investigation into Wild Desert, who won the 2005 Queen's Plate at Woodbine. Though the horse was actually stabled and training at Aqueduct, he showed a workout at Monmouth Park on May 29, six weeks before his victory in the Queen's Plate. At the time, the New York Racing Association's racing secretary, Mike Lakow, did not want the horse on the grounds of a NYRA track because of a dispute he had with the colt's owner, Daniel Borislow.

While Dutrow is under suspension, his horses in New York will be saddled by Juan Rodriguez.

In September, the New York stewards penalized Rudy Rodriguez, Juan Rodriguez, and Michelle Nevin for obtaining a false workout for Wild Desert.

 Daily Racing Form, October, 2007

The perception is that at best Dutrow plays the game on the fringe, that he is one of those whose methods of training revolve around staying a step ahead of the authorities, but his own success now places him in the harsh light of public scrutiny on the game’s biggest stage. A victory in the Kentucky Derby, which Dutrow last week dismissed as just another horserace, would bring new attention to the last thing the Triple Crown needs – examination of one of racing’s most notorious and controversial figures and the most sensitive issues – steroids, medication and the use of prohibited drugs -- by those who would otherwise ignore these issues.

Except among core horseplayers, this is not currently fodder for pre-Derby discussion but were Big Brown to win on Saturday, Dutrow would find two weeks post-race and pre-Preakness news coverage focused on the violations that are a matter of record and the perceived transgressions for which is guilty in the court of horseplayer opinion.

Big Brown has already moved observers to almost surreal hyperbole. One wrote last week, ignoring Triple Crown winners Seattle Slew and Affirmed as well as Spectacular Bid that this may be the best three-year-old since Secretariat. If this colt is capable of inspiring this sort of nonsense before the Derby, the ensuing fortnight, should Big Brown win on Saturday, would be a unprecedented clash of skeptics wondering what’s really going on and cheerleaders too naïve to consider the possibilities. --PM