California Chrome Owner: Tonalist's Win Was The "Coward's Way Out"

California Chrome's owner Steve Coburn was pretty salty following his horse's loss at the Belmont Stakes and a shot at the Triple Crown. The winner, Tonalist, did not run in either the Kentucky Derby or the Preakness and Coburn thinks that's dirty pool. In his post-race interview, where he spends most of his time scowling into American living rooms, Coburn gets so fired up that his wife tries to calm him down mid-interview and he swats her away. At the end of the interview you can hear him telling her "I don't care!"

Essentially, he thinks it's cheap that horses (and owners and trainers) can wait out the other races and have a fresher horse run the Belmont and play spoiler. Under the current setup, he thinks the deck is stacked against a horse who runs all three races. To combat that, Coburn says the field at the Belmont (and presumably the Preakness as well) should be limited to the field at the Kentucky Derby.

[NBC]