California Chrome co-owner Steve Coburn apologizes for angry comments

Two days after the Belmont Stakes, California Chrome still isn’t the winner.

Even after all of Steve Coburn’s complaining and griping about the way the system is set up, his horse still isn’t the first Triple Crown winner in 36 years.

But one thing did seem to have changed by Monday morning -- Coburn’s attitude. He appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” for the second day in a row, this time to apologize for his irate comments following California Chrome’s fourth-place finish on Saturday and additional comments Sunday on the morning news show.

“I need to apologize to the world and America, our fans that have written us and given us so much support,” he said while choking up. “I apologize, I sincerely apologize.”

Coburn, 61, was furious during a post-race interview, saying it was a “coward’s way out” for a horse, such as Belmont winner Tonalist, to compete in the third race of the Triple Crown without taking part in the first two.

The next day on “GMA,” Coburn stood by his statements from the previous day, adding that “what these guys did was like me playing basketball against a kid in a wheelchair.”

Among the people Coburn specifically apologized to Monday were everyone involved with his horse and Tonalist. He also included his wife, Carolyn, who can be seen in the original video trying to calm down her husband.

“This is America’s horse,” Coburn said. “I wanted it so much for this horse to win the Triple Crown for the people of America. And I was very emotional.”

He added: “It’s a learning process for us. And I’m going to do better, I promise you.”