Heavily favored California Chrome was defeated today at Belmont Park in his bid for the Triple Crown. But the race’s real loser turned out to be the colt’s co-owner Steve Coburn, who held forth in a post race interview about the unfairness of the Triple Crown venue, proving that his Dumb Ass Racing Partnership is well named.

Meanwhile Robert Evans, owner of Tonalist, winner, at 11-1 by a head over Commissioner, recalled, when asked, the reaction of his father, Thomas Mellon Evans, when Pleasant Colony, owned by the elder Evans lost the 1981 Belmont Stakes, after wins in the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes.

“He was very quiet for a long time,” said Evans.

California Chrome, who seemed a well-positioned fourth on the outside in the stretch, was unable to muster a winning surge and tied for fourth, 1½ lengths back, in a deadheat with Wicked Strong. Medal Count finished third by a length.

“He’s fine,” Espinoza told Donna Brothers, after he the race. “He just didn’t have it in him today.”

Tonalist and Commissioner last raced and finished one-two in the Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park on May 10. The Belmont was Tonalist’s third win and fourth start in 2014 and broke California Chrome’s six-win streak. The Belmont was California Chrome’s sixth start in 2014.

Tonalist, trained by Christophe Clement and ridden by Joel Rosario, 29, who won the 2013 Kentucky Derby aboard Orb, is out of a daughter of Pleasant Colony and sired by Tapit, who commands a $150,000 stud fee at Gainesway Farm in Lexington, Ky.