NA Cup Morning Lines and Beyer on Brown

The North America Cup morning lines are out.

In the first elim Badlands Nitro is listed at 8-5. In any other year (last year) Santanna Blue Chip would have been the talk of the division. He gets some respect at 2-1. Share the Delight, my pick for a good showing Cup week is third choice. Keystone Horatio just keeps winning, but is listed at 6-1. Can't take them all in this tough division I guess.

In the second elim, 2-5 is the odds on Beach. He'll probably be 1-5 with a huge minus show pool, but that is a good line. Art Official, our choice to ome second to him in our fair odds line is 5-1. Again, a good line, I believe.

In the third division Dali is listed at 8-5. That is too low for me. I would have made him 5-2. The other toughies all get listed at decent fair odds, including Sand Shooter and Rudy Rednose. I think Sand Shooter will be three lengths better this week, so I agree with that line. Rudy has some go.

The program for the good card of racing should be out today.

Beyer Has Cajones

It has been often stated that the racing press is filled with fluff, trying to support a sport that needs it, and being good "company men". Andrew Beyer did not get the memo apparently. In a DRF article on Big Brown he lets those thoughts be known.

.....the only admirable figure in the Belmont winner's circle will be Big Brown.

Snippets, on owner Mike Iavarone:

Iavarone's sudden prominence in racing underscores the weakness of the sport's regulatory system and should be a caution for any innocent who considers investing in horses. Iavarone couldn't sell a share of a 10-cent gold-mining stock without being licensed by the securities industry and making his professional history a matter of public record. But he was soliciting investments for a $100 million horse-racing "hedge fund" without disclosing his background - a fact that has sparked disbelief and derision from commentators outside the sport. John Helyar, co-author of "Barbarians at the Gate," wrote for Bloomberg.com: " 'Big Brown' has taken on a whole new meaning. It describes the . . . dung piles littering Iavarone's past."

On trainer, Richard Dutrow:

Yet even if Dutrow didn't have a single blemish on his official record, rival trainers, track officials, and bettors would still view him with suspicion. After Dutrow acquires new horses, he seemingly has the power to transform them magically. When he took over the training of Saint Liam in 2003, the colt had won only two minor races in seven starts. Under Dutrow's care he was a new horse, winning four Grade 1 stakes and the Horse of the Year title. When a trainer does this once, it's a remarkable feat. But when he improves horses dramatically on a regular basis, he will be suspected of taking some unfair edge. Dutrow does it on a regular basis. Over the past five years, the horses he has claimed have won an astonishing 35 percent of the time in the first start for his barn.

In many other countries, trainers with Dutrow's record and reputation would be booted out of the sport. In the U.S., where penalties for medication violations are usually laughable, an unsavory reputation is scarcely a handicap, because owners gravitate to high-percentage trainers. When the IEAH Stable's previous trainer was socked with criminal charges for cheating with one of the stable's horses, IEAH sought out Dutrow. And thus did he eventually get the opportunity to train Big Brown.

Love em or hate him, Beyer is certainly not there to cheerlead. He speaks his mind. For that we are lucky to be able to read him.