Casino Drive Misses his Chance
Big Brown had a bad day at the Belmont Stakes, but what could have happened in that race had Casino Drive not been scratched? He was going to be ridden by Hall of Fame jockey Edgar Prado, and at 7/2 before being scratched it was a big opportunity for the Japanese horse to make history. But it was not meant to be for Casino Drive at the 2008 Belmont Stakes, a bruised hind foot kept him from running what could have been a very profitable race.
He seemed healthy during his Saturday morning workout, but began to favour his hind foot after returning to the stables. Trainer Kazuo Fujisawa noticed that Casino Drive wasn’t walking normally on Friday morning. He skipped Friday’s workout and was listed as questionable for the race.
“This morning we check and he is OK,” Nobutaka Tada, racing manager for Japanese owner Hidetoshi Yamamoto, told the Schenectady Gazette. “We send him to the main track and he had cantering, and he came back to the yard OK, no problem. Then, (again) he just (started) carrying his hind (leg). We checked again and it became warm.”
Casino Drive has the pedigree for distance running, being a half brother to the last two Belmont Stakes winners, Rags to Riches (2006) and Jazil (2007). He also has the potential to become a very good four-year-old. We’ll all be looking forward to seeing Casino Drive and Da’ Tara race each other at some point this summer.
