Belmont Stakes 2012: Trainer's Past Would Taint I'll Have Another's Triple Crown

Any time a horse wins the Triple Crown it is certainly special. Considering it hasn't been done since Affirmed turned the trick in 1978, though, if I'll Have Another can win Saturday's Belmont Stakes, it will have a little more meaning.

Unfortunately, the transgressions of trainer Doug O'Neill would taint the accomplishment.

O'Neill has gotten a lot of press over the past month as I'll Have Another has scored surprising victories in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. His fun-loving attitude has drawn in a lot of people, but he has a shady past to consider as well. Following the Belmont Stakes, O'Neill will be forced to serve a 45-day suspension, according to the Associated Press.

It was found that one of O'Neill's horses had elevated levels of carbon dioxide in its blood, which could mean that O'Neill was doping the horse. It was ruled that O'Neill didn't intentionally break the rules, but he was still suspended 45 days and fined $15,000 for improper care of his horse.

The big issue is that this is the third such time O'Neill has been charged with this violation since 2010, according to the Associated Press. He has yet to be found guilty of feeding one of his horses a "milkshake," which is a concoction that reduces lactic acid buildup and increases stamina, but it seems more than coincidental that he has been cited on multiple occasions.

Nothing out of the ordinary has been found regarding I'll Have Another to this point, but there will likely always be a question about whether he has been pure throughout this process.

It's possible that O'Neill is truly a great trainer who takes good care of his horses and has had some bad luck when it comes to his violations, but it's hard to believe that he has been a model trainer.

Questioning I'll Have Another's accomplishments wouldn't be fair to the horse, but it's bound to happen on Saturday if he wins the Belmont Stakes and the Triple Crown.

As strange as it may seem, people are often suspicious of greatness in this day and age. Whenever an athlete of any kind does something of note, there are often whispers about whether or not it was done naturally.

I'll Have Another is different since he's a horse that has no control of what goes into his body, but the point remains valid. O'Neill now has a checkered past—whether he purposely violated any rules or not—and that will affect the way fans perceive I'll Have Another. The lack of any positive drug tests when it comes to I'll Have Another won't change the way people think either because we're skeptical by nature.

The same would have been true had Big Brown won the Triple Crown a few years back.

He ultimately failed in the Belmont, but trainer Rick Dutrow had an even worse rap sheet than O'Neill. Essentially every trainer has a violation of some sort on their record to this point, so if any horse wins a Triple Crown in the near future, there is going to be plenty of doubt.

I tend to believe that I'll Have Another has won the first two legs of the Triple Crown organically since he has come up clean thus far and hasn't been particularly dominant. O'Neill has unfortunately put himself and his horse in a bad position, though, and it will ultimately taint a Triple Crown triumph in the eyes of the masses should it happen.

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