Dullahan trainer Dale Romans continued his crusade against the 2012 Belmont Stakes detention barn on Thursday, calling it "ridiculous."
The barn is ridiculous. There's too many horses in there doing the same things at the same times. There's too many people in there. There's three or four people for every horse, and then everybody trying to walk in in the afternoons and graze. It's just ridiculous.
They could have found such an easier way to accommodate the horse, and I don't think anybody who set that barn up or made the rules was thinking about the horse. (Applause). Thank you very much.
Despite his anti-detention barn attitude, Romans feels the winner will still be deserved and untarnished.
But no, I don't think the barn will get the horses beat. These are classy horses. They are strong‑minded horses, or they would not have gotten to this level. I don't think it's going to affect the outcome of the race.
But it may affect public opinion after the race. If Doug's horse were to happen to lose, it will be human nature for people to say, well, they got him in the detention barn. That's not fair. It diminishes his performance in the first two races of the Triple Crown, and it will also diminish the winner's performance in the Belmont.
For more on the 2012 Belmont Stakes, please be sure to check out our blog And Down The Stretch They Come along with SB Nation New York for all the latest news and updates.