A night of sleep did little to calm California Chrome co-owner Steve Coburn, who continued his rant against Belmont Stakes winner Tonalist and the Triple Crown rules on Sunday in interviews with ABC's "Good Morning America" and ESPN.
Before a crowd of tens of thousands hoping to see history, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner finished in a dead-heat for fourth with Wicked Strong. California Chrome's loss extended the longest drought without a Triple Crown champion to 36 years. Then, in an interview with Yahoo! Sports Saturday, Coburn called the horses that skipped the first two races of the Triple Crown and just raced in the Belmont Stakes "cheaters" who took the "coward's way out."
On Sunday, the 61-year-old Coburn said he had no regrets about his comments Saturday and continued to rail against the Triple Crown system, which allowed Tonalist to race Saturday even though the horse didn't compete in either the Kentucky Derby or Preakness Stakes.
"It says Triple Crown. You nominate your horse for the Triple Crown. That means three," Coburn said in the track-side interview with ESPN on Sunday. "Even the Triple Crown trophy has three points on it. So when you earn enough points to run in the Kentucky Derby, those 20 horses that start in the Kentucky Derby should be the only 20 allowed to run in the Preakness and the Belmont for the Triple Crown."
He also made a questionable analogy of why Tonalist's participation Saturday was unfair.
"These people nominate their horses for the Triple Crown and then they hold out two [races] and then come back and run one," Coburn told ESPN. "That would be like me at 6-2 playing basketball with a kid in a wheelchair. They haven't done anything with their horses in the Triple Crown. There were three horses in this race that ran in the first two -- California Chrome, Ride on Curlin and General A Rod -- none of the other horses did. You figure out. You ask yourself, 'Would it be fair if I played basketball with a child in a wheel chair?"
Coburn made the analogy in both interviews Sunday morning. He was asked in the "Good Morning America interview" if he considered the comparison offensive.
"No, I'm just trying to compare the two," he said. "Is it fair for me to play with this child in a wheelchair? Is it fair for them to hold their horses back?"
Coburn said he has no problems if people label him a "sore loser" and even proceeded to give out his phone number so people can call him with their complaints.
Subject: California Chrome owner whines about losing the Belmont 
