There was no announcement that coach Rick Dutrow Jr. will start for the first time in over 10 years on the May 6 pass at Belmont Park.
Toteboard solved that problem.
In the sixth race of the day, Dutrow’s horse, Prince of the Pharoahs was 9-2 on the light line but was 3-5 in the first flash on the leaderboard.
Welcome back, Rick Dutrow.
While Dutrow joked that owner Sanford Goldfarb was responsible for the odds – the horse closed at 3-1 odds – the original amount was actually the target as the trainer made many controversial words back from a decade-long suspension with a performance that was, as he said, very popular in his time big brown date, a foregone conclusion.
American Pharoah drew to win by 4 and a half in the $95,000 grant race and was greeted with a loud cheer from the crowd at Belmont Park.
“I love it. I hope they keep cheering for us,” said Dutrow, whose horse, owned by Goldfarb, Matthew Morrison and Crown Stables, paid $8.2 to win. “It’s a great feeling. I got my first win at Belmont, which I love.”
Saint Liam , and he is fiercely supported by owners like Goldfarb. At the same time, he was fined for several violations, which led to the New York State Game Commission revoking his coach license for 10 years. He began serving that suspension in 2013.
Recovered earlier this year, he now has 15 horses at Belmont Park, including the Prince of Pharoahs, whom he asked for for $45,000 on April 7.
“I haven’t done this in a long time so it feels great,” Dutrow said. “He won pretty easily. He’s been training really well. I’ve been telling Sandy for the past few weeks that he’s showing us that he’s happy. All we had to do was pick. right position and tracking.”
When asked how the past 10 years have been for him, Dutrow was a little more gentle.
“It’s not fun,” he said.
Goldfarb, who used Dutrow as a coach before his suspension, is quite supportive.
“It was 10 years (his career) in prison,” Goldfarb figuratively said of the suspension. “I don’t want to look back, but he never spoke badly about it. He had a bad rap and we all know it. Now he’s back like a bell. I don’t know. Do I have the mental stamina he did to come back?”
Now 1-on-1 in 2023, Dutrow said he expects continued success.
“Perhaps this win will excite the owners,” he said.
