Can Dullahan beat I'll Have Another?

At Tuesday’s 2012 Belmont Stakes media luncheon, which was held on a roof top restaurant in Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center, Dullahan’s trainer Dale Romans gave us some tongue in cheek advise, “You should bet on Dullahan to cash a ticket, but I’ll Have Another to get a souvenir.”

 

Romans then went on to explain why he is so confident that Dullahan can compete with I'll Have Another. “I think if we’d had a better trip in the Derby we could have beaten him. We only lost by a length and a half.  He had the best trip.”

 

Dullahan had a lot of trouble at the start of the Derby and Roman’s said it only got worse, “But then we went nine wide on the clubhouse turn and anybody that watches Churchill on a regular basis knows that that’s death and you can’t win from out there.  He still closed faster than anyone else.”

 

There is very little doubt how much respect Romans has for I’ll Have Another. “I was very impressed with Doug’s horse in the Preakness. His horse was much the best.  He had to belly down to catch Bodemeister that wasn’t stopping and he did what he needed to do to win.”

 

Romans made it clear that the mile and a half distance of the Belmont puts every one on an even playing field, yet at the same time creates some very unique challenges.  “It is an odd race at a mile and a half. The riders aren’t used to riding it. I think you can get an unrealistic pace and not even realize it.  It would be easy to go too fast because you have a long way to go.  A jockey can hit the gas too early if you haven’t been here.”

 

“It is hard to finish strong in this race because by the time you turn for home everybody’s getting tired,” Romans elaborated. “This kind of plays against what we want to do naturally, but if they are going slowly my horse will be in the top 3 at the mile poll and if they are going too fast they will back up anyway.”

 

“I’ll Have Another will get the first run and we will have to run him down. He will be running fast at the end and hopefully we will be running a little faster.”

 

Romans pointed out that the Belmont is not a two horse race. “I think Paynter is kind of a key to the race, on how fast he wants to go early. If we let him go too long he just might keep right on going. He is very talented and he’s trained by a Hall of Famer (Bob Baffert) who knows how to win every race. He worries me a little bit.”

 

When asked if he would have any qualms about spoiling a Triple Crown bid, Romans joked, “None at all. I’d like to have 120,000 people booing me on the way out.”

 

He ended our conversation by saying, “If he (I’ll Have Another) is a super horse and wins the Triple Crown then I’ll be the first to congratulate him, but we are going to make him earn it.”

 

 

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