I'll Have Another Belmont: Tainted Trainer Adds Controversy and Intrigue to Run

It's all too fitting that the innocence and exuberance of I'll Have Another and jockey Mario Gutierrez would be tainted only by the slime of those who made their Triple Crown chase possible.

And not just owner J. Paul Reddam, the Canadian businessman who built his fortune on a loansharking empire through Cash Call.

Trainer Doug O'Neill has done plenty to cast doubt on I'll Have Another's legacy on his own.

According to CBS News, O'Neill will begin serving a 45-day suspension, and pay a $15,000 fine, handed down by the California Horse Racing Board in late May. O'Neill was slated to miss 180 days of training after the board initially ruled him guilty of "milkshaking," an illegal technique in which trainers feed their horses a mixture of bicarbonate of soda, electrolytes and sugar that's intended to fight fatigue and improve performance on the track.

But, upon appeal, the board found that he had not, in fact, used "milkshakes" during the incident in question, thus earning him a stay of 135 days of the aforementioned penalty. O'Neill first came under scrutiny in this case after another of his horses, Argenta, tested positive for elevated levels of carbon dioxide in his system following a race at Del Mar in late August 2010.

And because the rules of the CHRB stipulate that a trainer is ultimately responsible for the findings associated with his horse, O'Neill was not absolved entirely in the matter.

This was hardly O'Neill's first brush with the law of equestrian athletics, though. Three times before (and twice in California) had O'Neill's horses been found with excess carbon dioxide in their systems.

Technically speaking, O'Neill is a repeat offender.

And yet, he now finds himself on the precipice of history.

It's only fitting, really, that a sport so plagued with controversy, on top of its declining popularity, would have to confront its demons head-on just as people in America begin to care about it again, or at least feign interest in it.

It's only fitting that horse racing's biggest obstacle, like I'll Have Another at the Belmont Stakes, would be itself.

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