Slevin out of Triple Crown!
The St. Croix stallion was the favourite to win the first ever Triple Crown. He had won the first leg on Tortola. However, that plan was dented by the controversial entry of St. Thomas' Bud White for the second leg on St. Croix on February 19, 2012 which saw Slevin running into second place behind Bud White who took a comfortable victory.
According to Bates, his top horse will be taking some much needed rest and will not be participating in the third leg of the Triple Crown or in the USVI’s Carnival races.
“He’s a horse, not a machine. He was to rest before the Triple Crown,” Bates explained, when asked the reason behind his decision.
Had Slevin won the Triple Crown, his team would have won a $25,000 bonus prize plus the race purse.
Commenting on Bud White’s victory at the Randall “Doc” James race track last Sunday, James maintained that the horse’s entry changed the whole dynamics of the first ever Triple Crown.
“I said it before it should not have entered. I guess by now everyone knows it was a point system, and it placed many of the horses at a disadvantage. If Bud White was on the [USVI] team from the inception, there would not have been any objection...a new horse brought in especially for the race is a slap in our faces,” he pointed out.
James is worried that the first Triple Crown marred by this controversy may have a negative impact on next year’s sporting event – if it is pulled off.
Meanwhile, President of the Virgin Islands [Tortola] Horse Owners’ Association Lesmore Smith told Virgin Islands News Online that he had voted no for Bud White’s entry. This news agency understands that both St. Croix and St. Thomas had given the “thumbs up”.
“You see Bud White came in as a substitute, therefore he would not have accumulated any points,” he explained. “So at the end of the day, it changed the whole outcome of the race.”
Bud White reportedly won three races in New York before coming to St. Thomas and was expected to be a real threat in the second leg despite placing 7th in his last race in the US.
Now with Slevin out, Tortola’s East End Tap is expected to be one of the favourites to win the feature race in the third leg.
Additionally, Bud White will be entering the third leg of the Crown, and according to Hugo Hodge moments after the feature race on February 19, “The controversy was why they did not want him in the race…he is a class horse and we were very confident coming in and very confident going out. There is no doubt we will be back and make sure everything sound. Once everything sound, you will see him in St. Thomas in March for the last leg.”
Bud White smashed a new record in a time of 1:41:4.
Efforts to contact Rodney Simmonds, East End Tap’s trainer, were futile up to the time of this article’s publication.
.png)
.png)
.png)
Follow Us On
31 Responses to “Slevin out of Triple Crown! ”