California Chrome co-owner Steve Coburn gave a tearful apology Monday for going nuclear on the competition after his horse placed fourth in the Belmont Stakes and failed to capture the elusive Triple Crown.
"Very ashamed of myself, very ashamed," Coburn said in an interview with ABC. "I need to apologize to a lot of people."
"It's just the emotion of the whole journey coming together at one time," he added.
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After Chrome's disappointing finish, Coburn ripped the victor, Tonalist, for taking "the coward's way out" and not racing in all three legs of the Triple Crown. He followed up his initial criticism with an even stranger broadside the next day, employing a puzzling metaphor that concluded, "Would it be fair if I played basketball with a child in a wheelchair?"
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