Text size:

Trainer Dutrow tired of 'negative stuff'

Sports Digest

June 28, 2008

Hagerstown native Rick Dutrow is still wondering what went wrong with Big Brown in the Belmont Stakes. He's also wondering why everyone seems to be ganging up on him.

In his first news conference since Big Brown's failed Triple Crown bid three weeks ago, the trainer said yesterday at Aqueduct Racetrack in New York that he has been inundated with calls about "negative stuff" and wishes it would stop.

Dutrow was recently given a 15-day suspension by Kentucky racing officials because a horse he trains - Salute the Count - was found to have an excessive amount of the legal drug Clenbuterol after finishing second in the Aegon Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs on May 2.

Dutrow will eventually serve the suspension, he said, but by filing his appeal yesterday he can continue preparing Big Brown and several other top horses for upcoming stakes races.

Sports Digest Recent columns

"Since everyone is giving me the opportunity to appeal it, and postpone it, that's what I'm going to be doing until I can't postpone it anymore," Dutrow said, adding that he hopes Big Brown could run in both the Haskell Invitational on Aug. 3 and the Travers Stakes on Aug. 23.

• Baseball // First baseman Josh Vittek (Liberty), who just completed his senior season at Mount St. Mary's, has been signed by the Kansas City Royals and assigned to their Rookie-level team in Burlington, N.C. ... In his first trip to the area since being released by the Orioles this spring, outfielder Jay Gibbons struck out three times, popped up once and had a RBI double for the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League against the host York Revolution. ... New York Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a sore left knee.

• Track and field // James Carter (Mervo) advanced to today's semifinals of the 400 hurdles at the U.S. Olympics trials in Eugene, Ore.

• Pro football // Buffalo Bills running back Marshawn Lynch will temporarily lose his drivers license and pay $150 in fines after admitting he was driving his sport utility vehicle last month when he hit a woman crossing a street and left the scene.

• Auto racing // Rookie Patrick Carpentier grabbed his first NASCAR Sprint Cup pole with the fastest lap during qualifying at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H. He's in the top spot for tomorrow's Lenox Industrial Tools 301 with a lap of 129.776 mph. ... Hendrick Motorsports said Sprint Cup driver Casey Mears, who has been with the team since 2007, will be released at the end of this season.