As a younger man, maybe 24, I went to Belmont Park for the running of the Wood Memorial and I listened to the papers about how Damascus was the horse of the Year,etc. I mae a large bet for me at the time and thought sure damascus would win that day.
There were rumors from the morning the Damascus was not sound and would be hurting if he ran that day. Well Damascus lost to Mr. Right (named for Frank Sinatra a right kind of guy). Baeza the jockey did not press Damascus in the stretch and he made no bones about it. The horse was lame: Baeza said so and he was afraid to push Damascus. The Track vet did not scratch Damascus for that would force the track to return a half million dollars, bet on Damascus, to the public and that was money they would rather keep. They fool the public and keep their money.
