Secure Belmont barn no hit with trainers

ELMONT, N.Y. — Workers were finishing up a fresh paint job Monday on the barn that by Wednesday will be the mandatory home of all the horses in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes.

State racing officials say the new rule that houses all the horses in one tightly secured barn is in the interest of sporting integrity. Triple Crown candidate I’ll Have Another didn’t get a say.

“He’s very settled in where he is right now, so having to move barns is a challenge. . . . I don’t think it will be distracting to him, but you never know,” trainer Doug O’Neill said after I’ll Have Another’s workout at Belmont Park, where he’ll try to become the first Triple Crown winner in 34 years.

Dale Romans, trainer of potential spoiler Dullahan, wasn’t so diplomatic. “It makes no sense,” Romans told USA TODAY Sports. “It just shows the disconnect and the lack of horsemanship from our regulators that they think we can just move these horses around like cars and park them in garages and it doesn’t affect them.

“Then to displace another trainer (the regular barn No. 2 tenant) from his barn is ridiculous. He’s trying to run his business, and they’re making him change barns for four days.”

The New York State Racing and Wagering Board announced the new protocols last week. Besides keeping the horses in one barn, it will be mon- itored 24 hours a day by state regulators and security guards. All horse treatments will be monitored and recorded.

Access to the barn will be limited, and anyone entering will have to sign log sheets.

O’Neill said last week that he didn’t think officials were singling him out. After the Belmont Stakes, he faces a 45-day suspension in California, related to finding elevated levels of carbon dioxide in the blood of a horse O’Neill raced in 2010.

O’Neill has denied giving the horse anything to raise the carbon dioxide levels as a performance-enhancer. California authorities only ruled that levels were high. They did not say what caused them, though their report did note that it can be caused by “milkshaking” — giving the horse a mixture of baking soda, sugar and water.

To get a leg up on the barn transition, O’Neill said his plan was to move his horse into the new barn after today’s work.

“That’s out of our control, so we’re not too worried about it,” he said. “It (moving) does sound more simple than it is.”

The inside of the stalls in barn No. 2 are painted soft yellow for the equestrian sequestering.

“It’s silly. I don’t think it’s necessary. There’s a lot they could have done better and accomplished the same goal. I don’t think it was very thought out,” Romans said. “They could’ve put a security guard 24 hours a day on each horse and there wouldn’t have been a problem. They do it for the Kentucky Derby. They can’t do it here?”