Rick Dutrow Jr. and I almost meet in person. Almost.
My editor called last night to give me my assignment for today: go to Aqueduct and see if Rick Dutrow Jr., Big Brown's brash trainer, was at his stable and would talk to me.
So after a bout of traffic on Southern State I made it to Aqueduct earlier today for the first time in my life. There are no races today, so the general parking lot was closed. So I drove around the place and found the stable entrance. There was a guard there, but he didn't seem to mind that I drove past him. I didn't even have to wave.
I parked, got out, walked around. A bunch of people were watering down horses, taking them around for walks, etc. There were even roosters - I believe they were roosters - walking around the lot. Very bizarre scene. Anyway, I didn't find Dutrow's stable, but I scored a number for it, called and - what do you know - he answered.
He said he would answer my questions, but when I explained that I was in the parking lot and would love to do it in person, he declined. Something about how he had to leave soon. So there I was, sitting in my wife's car in the Aqueduct parking lot interviewing a man who was probably no more than 100 feet away by telephone.
As Neil Best would say, Sigh.
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Comments (2)
Isn't this how Jim does all his interviews?
And to come in behind Rieber ... ouch. Or was Rieber being benched after a subpar Saturday? Maybe we're seeing the birth of the Baumbach Rules!
Just a guess, but maybe Rieber had it inserted into his contract he doesn't cover horse racing after experiencing the Belmont on Saturday.