By ED FOUNTAINE
Posted: 4:14 am
June 29, 2008
Timing is everything for Rick Dutrow Jr.
Days earlier Dutrow, the head trainer of IEAH Stable's Big Brown. was suspended for a Clenbuterol positive that put his job in jeopardy. But yesterday Dutrow saddled Frost Giant - at 40-1, the longest shot in the field of eight for IEAH's stable - to victory in the 122nd running of the Grade 1, $400,000 Suburban Handicap yesterday at Belmont Park.
Maybe that was the right idea. Riding Frost Giant for the first time, Rudy Rodriguez, a regular jockey for Dutrow, tracked the early pace, then took the lead around the far turn in the mile-and-a-quarter race. In the stretch, he was caught and passed by Solar Flare, but Frost Giant came on again through the final sixteenth to regain the lead and post the upset, giving Rodriguez his first Grade 1 victory.
"I'll be all right now," Dutrow said. "This gets me back in the game. Rudy rode him great, man. I am so happy for him."
