ARCADIA, Calif. – Richard Dutrow Jr. believed he’d have a big horse in the barn again. He just didn’t know it would be this soon.
The man who trained Big Brown to win two-thirds of the Triple Crown in 2008 and Saint Liam to victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2005, is back in the spotlight with White Abarrio, who just may go off favored in Saturday’s $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.
It comes just seven months after Dutrow returned from a 10-year suspension handed him by the New York Racing Commission for a history of repeated violations.
“I’ve always been lucky and been around good ones. I knew when I was on suspension this would happen,” said Dutrow, who is 64.
That White Abarrio arrived in his barn in May was by happenstance. White Abarrio’s previous trainer, Saffie Joseph Jr., had two horses unexpectedly die at Churchill Downs in late April and Churchill Downs Inc. didn’t permit him to race at its tracks. The New York Racing Association, while never formally announcing anything, also didn’t permit Joseph to participate at its Belmont spring meet.
Mark Cornett, of C2 Racing, majority owner of White Abarrio, wanted to run their horse in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park on June 10. When he couldn’t get clarity on Joseph’s status to be able to race in New York, he and his partners decided to move the horse to Dutrow. Cornett said he considered Dutrow and Chad Brown.
“I was leaning toward Rick, but it was a tough decision,” Cornett said. “I’ve taken a lot of heat. I’ve had calls, ‘What are you doing, this isn’t good for the sport.’ Well, yeah, it is. Rick Dutrow is one of the best horsemen in the country. You can say what you want, but he’s one of the best horsemen in the country, period.
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“I personally think he got a raw deal,” Cornett added. “It’s not that I just wanted to help him, that’s not the point. We’re helping each other.”
Cornett said he knew Dutrow from many years ago when he would buy horses for one of Dutrow’s owners, Paul Pompa.
“I’ve known Rick for a long time,” Cornett said.
From 2001-12, Dutrow averaged 138 wins per year. He won $10,000 claiming races and Grade 1 stakes. However, he was cited numerous times for medication violations, typically overages of legal therapeutic medications. He also liked to talk, sometimes calling out regulators or other horsemen.
It all led to Dutrow being banned for 10 years, a penalty he fought for 18 months and still fought even after the penalty was enacted.
“It was rough for him to be away,” said Chip Dutrow, Richard’s brother and assistant. “He tried every day to get back. He tried to call everybody he could. He never quit trying to get back. It was tough on him.”
Richard Dutrow only wanted to be around horses. He went to Saudi Arabia a few different times over the 10 years to work with horses.
“I kept as busy as I could around them without getting anybody in trouble,” Dutrow said.
Dutrow’s suspension ended in January. He was allowed back on the grounds and had his first horses in the barn in April. It was on Kentucky Derby Day at Belmont that Dutrow won with his first starter back, Prince of Pharoahs, in an allowance race. His third winner back came on Aug. 5, when White Abarrio won the Grade 1 Whitney by 6 1/4 lengths.
“He’s just lifted up our stable,” said Dutrow, who is 14 for 78 this year. “Without him, we’d be struggling along, doing what we can. He’s put us right back in the game.”
Dutrow said there are still things he’s getting used to since returning. Training full-time at Belmont Park is one of them. In addition to finding it more expensive when having to ship help from Belmont to Aqueduct for the races, Dutrow was a huge proponent of Aqueduct’s main track and loved training horses over it. Aqueduct has been closed for training for several years.
“I felt that track helped us out as much, if not more, than anything ever helped us out,” Dutrow said. “We have to be at Belmont and race and that’s okay.”
Dutrow said he’s fine with the new guidelines put forth by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit.
“That’s okay with me,” Dutrow said. “When I have a problem with a horse, all my vets are well aware of letting me know that we can’t do anything for X amount of time. That is not an issue in any kind of way to me.”
When Dutrow decided to send White Abarrio to California in early September, it meant he had to make several cross-country trips. He stayed in California for nearly two straight weeks when White Abarrio was dealing with a foot issue created, in part, by new glue-on shoes that were pinching him. When that situation got resolved with the help of noted farrier Ian McKinlay, Dutrow returned to New York, where he’s spent the last week before his scheduled return to California on Wednesday night.
With McKinlay, his brother, and Cornett around, Dutrow felt White Abarrio was in more than capable hands.
“Right now, he is razor-sharp. He’s got more than enough great horsemen around him right now,” Dutrow said Wednesday from New York while on his way to the airport. “I still have all these horses back here. Maybe one of these is going to turn out like him, but if I’m not on top of it right now it might not happen.”
Dutrow has about 45 horses based at Belmont. He may expand to California and Kentucky. For now, though, he is just focusing on the present.
“As long as the white horse stays the way he is right now, I feel there’s big races in his future,” Dutrow said. “I’m just thinking about tomorrow, getting by the right way. It’s all about daily stuff, it’s not about ‘I made it again.’ That doesn’t enter my mind. What enters my mind is tomorrow.
“Today he was at the gate, tomorrow he’s schooling the paddock, the clock is ticking, that’s what I’m about,” Dutrow added. “I like it when the clock is ticking; it means you’re in action and I’m in the game.”
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