Dutrow to hold press conference today

[MO]

http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/national-news/2008/June/25/Dutrow-facing-15-day-suspension-in-Kentucky.aspx

[Silver Charm]

I\'m catching up on the news and after reading some of the Dutrow remarks in the story below I can only shake my head and say, \"I told you so\".

http://www.drf.com/news/article/95884.html

There are several really good Turf Writers who have gone to bat for Dutrow here recently and I have been less than subtle about this support. If we need to name names we can name names. Steve Haskin and Lenny Shulman were two. There were others. AS I SAID THEY ARE OUTSTANDING WRITERS. But here is the flaw.

Dutrow himself.

This guy is not capable of holding the position of being the front and center face of racing as a spokesperson and I don\'t care how good of a horse he is training. The obnoxiousness during the Triple Crown ride was way beyond over the top. Some fun is fine but this went beyond some fun and became a negative for the sport because as his visibility increased the current state of negative publicity is what we are left with.

We have seen almost similar behavior before. An individual crowned the face of racing the king of the sport and he couldn\'t handle it. Who am I refering to??

Bob Baffert.

Remember the Austin Powers embarassing imitation. The insults pointed at Sonny Hine. He is a coward and an Elmer Fudd look-alike. Eliot Walden was the last guy to get a date to the prom. Jeanine Sahadi being called names and insulted at the Santa Anita Derby draw. The guy was place into a very visible high profile postion or role he was not capable of handling. It did not crush the sport but it did crush him. Now Baffert seems to have changed his image a little bit, seems to have a yerning to get back in the mix a little more and maybe now he is much better prepared to handle it. I hope so for his sake and the sports sakes.

This spit and venom coming from me was never a Lukas thing. Never has been never will be. When a guy needs to be given the hook and yanked from the stage that is what needs to happen.

Not egging him on