The instant California Chrome crossed the finish line in Saturday’s 139th Preakness, the buzz began. It always does when another opportunity for racing’s Triple Crown presents itself. The world’s greatest magnifying glass is dragged out of storage and placed directly over the favorite and his merry band. Silly rumors crop up out of nowhere and gain authenticity. The slightest misstep by the horse or his connections is fretted over and expounded upon. The competition is carefully probed in search of an applecart upsetter. The Belmont is coming! The Belmont is coming! Is everybody ready?
Well, the New York State Gaming Commission is ready. Immediately after the Preakness, the question of California Chrome’s nasal strips arose. Up til now, racing stewards in New York have disallowed them in thoroughbred races despite the fact they are permitted in all other racing venues, not to mention in trotting races in the Empire State. New York has always had a holier-than-thou attitude about its racing requirements and in 2012, when I’ll Have Another’s owners requested to continue use of the strips on their horse in the Belmont in his own pursuit of the Triple Crown, they were denied. (The horse later scratched from the race with an injury.) This time, the stewards sought expert analysis from more knowledgeable people. N.Y. State Gaming Commission Equine Medical Director Scott E. Palmer wisely advised:
“I recommend that the stewards at state-based Thoroughbred racetracks discontinue their ban on equine nasal strips. Equine nasal strips do not enhance equine performance nor do they pose a risk to equine health or safety and as such do not need to be regulated.
While there is research to indicate that equine nasal strips decrease airway resistance in horses and may decrease the amount of bleeding associated with EIPH to some degree, I am unfamiliar with any research indicating that equine nasal strips enable a horse to run faster with nasal strips than without them. In other words, there is no evidence they have a performance improving effect.”
All of us can recall the advent of nasal strips. Most of us tried them, some of us used them on a horse or two. Were they a boon to mankind? Not so much, as current sales figures for the things would reflect. Did they help the occasional person to some slight degree? Maybe. Them and the placebo effect. They were first used on California Chrome at the behest of one of his owners, Perry Martin, and the horse ran off six straight wins after that. We’re calling that a coincidence. If any of Chrome’s competitors really think the strips make a difference, of course, there’s a quick solution to any disparity: put them on your own horse. It’s a free country, right? Now, even in New York.
Knows All, Sees All!
You realize, of course that you are in the presence of greatness here. Your peerless prognosticator (that would be, ahem, me) gave you the top three horses in the Preakness (and even the last finisher) and if you used them in a trifecta box you would be eating at Wolfgang Puck’s place instead of McDonald’s. With three-for-three in the Preakness and three out of five in the Derby, we’re six for eight in the two classics races, better than anybody I know, including all the smarty-pants experts who live at the racetracks. We can’t understand why David Letterman hasn’t called, but you know what they say about prophets being without honor in their own town. Anyway, this recent rash of success may come to a quick halt in the Belmont, which presents a mind-boggling array of possibilities. Despite California Chrome’s nice performance under pressure in the Preakness, we are by no means confident a Triple Crown is at hand. Some of the better—and unluckier—Kentucky Derby horses will be returning for the Belmont, not to mention Ride On Curlin, who made a race of it in the stretch last Saturday and obviously will go longer. A couple of New York-based horses always show up for the race and the proclivities of any of these horses at a distance is a big Unknown. One thing’s for sure; there will be a gargantuan crowd at Belmont for the Grand Finale, folks who enjoy being present with the possibility of history being made. It’s been 36 years since Affirmed claimed the last Triple Crown in 1978, so we’re anxious. Hell, we’ll even take a winner with nasal strips.
Spectacular Bid—In Front, As Usual
Close, But No Cigar
Unless you have been living under a bus in Duluth, the news media has made you aware by now that no horse has won racing’s Triple Crown since Affirmed did the trick in 1978, although 12 Kentucky Derby/Preakness winners have been on the verge and most of them ran good races in defeat. Four finished second, four others third and only two were off the board, including Big Brown, who failed to finish. What happened in the cases of these near-misses, and does their frustration throw any light on the Quest of The Day? Let’s take a closer look.
In 1979, Spectacular Bid was hailed as an almost-certain Triple Crown winner. Taking the three classics was not a rare thing in those days, Affirmed having annexed the Crown only a year earlier, Seattle Slew a year before that and Secretariat in 1973. Winning the TC was becoming so commonplace, racing people even talked of making it more difficult. The Bid won 26 0f 30 races in his career, set several track records, earned a then-record $2,781,607 and won Eclipse Awards in each of his three seasons. After twelve consecutive victories, few doubted he would add the Belmont Stakes to his charm bracelet. On the morning of the race, however, a hoof infection was discovered, supposedly the result of Spectacular Bid stepping on a safety pin which became embedded in his foot. The hoof was drilled into to reach the infection and resolve the problem. The horse was never lame. In a separate issue, Bid’s rider, a very young and “headstrong” (translated: “not especially bright”) fellow named Ronnie Franklin—who trainer Bud Delp had publicly called “an idiot” after his Florida Derby ride on the horse—got into a fistfight three days before the race with veteran jockey Angel Cordero, Jr. in the jocks’ room and seemed on edge all week. Many observers felt a horse the quality of Spectacular Bid deserved a better pilot but Delp was loyal to his “idiot.”
When the Belmont gates opened, Bid was rated just behind the leader off a fast pace, glided up easily to pass without effort and had a clear lead entering the stretch, whereupon he began to struggle and was overtaken by eventual winner Coastal, who challenged along the inside rail. Spectacular Bid faded in the closing strides and gave up second place to Golden Act near the finish. There was plenty of blame to go around, deserved or not. Delp was accused of trying to emulate Secretariat’s Belmont performance, using tactics intended to maximize the margin of victory. The unpopular Franklin was vilified for sending the horse to the lead too soon. And the safety pin excuse was hooted at and derided by some in the press as a manufactured event. Franklin was finally replaced by Bill Shoemaker in Spectacular Bid’s subsequent races, but it was too late for the Triple Crown. To his credit, the young jockey took the blame for Bid’s loss, citing his inexperience in mile-and-one-half races.
In 1981, Pleasant Colony and his loudmouthed trainer, Johnny Campo, were center stage. Campo, who had a reputation for skullduggery and skating on the edges of legality, inherited the horse after a losing effort in the Florida Derby. Immediately, Pleasant Colony won the Wood Memorial for Campo and then the Kentucky Derby, by three-quarters of a length over Woodchopper, who was charging down the stretch like a locomotive. In the Preakness, Pleasant Colony came from behind to edge Arkansas Derby winner Bold Ego by a length. Somebody forgot to shovel more coal in the boiler and Woodchopper finished eleventh. In the Belmont, Pleasant Colony lagged in last place for awhile before picking it up late to get third while never threatening the easy winner, Summing.
In 1987, the blue-blood Alysheba, son of Triple Crown runnerup Alydar, was having his troubles. Winner of only a maiden race, the horse was discovered to have an entrapped epiglottis, requiring a quick-fix surgery which was successful. To say the least. Despite being pummeled from pillar to post in the Derby by Bet Twice, Alysheba recovered to take the race and then the Preakness. In the Belmont, Alysheba raced without the medication Lasix, which was prohibited at the time in New York racing (there they go again). He finished fourth, with Bet Twice winning by 14 lengths.
In 1989, the exciting Easy Goer was everybody’s favorite horse. Made no difference to Sunday Silence, who was used to adversity. He almost died as a weanling after contracting a freak virus and at age two found himself in a flipped-over horse van when the driver experienced a heart attack. He was passed over twice in the sales ring before he was finally sold for $50,000 in California. At that point, he got lucky, being sent to legendary trainer Charlie Whittingham. Sunday Silence prevailed in the slowest time for a Kentucky Derby since 1958 (2:05) by 2 1/2 lengths over Easy Goer on a muddy Churchill Downs racetrack. Easy Goer fans, of which there were legion, cited the track conditions and promised revenge in the Preakness. They were wrong, but not by much, Sunday Silence winning by a tiny nose. Easy Goer finally got his payback in the Belmont, winning by eight lengths in the second fastest Belmont in history, behind only Secretariat’s monster race.
It was eight more years before another Triple Crown challenger arose. In 1997, Silver Charm showed up with his popular trainer Bob Baffert and prominent owners Bob And Beverly Lewis. Baffert had lost the previous year’s Derby to Grindstone by a nose but he won this one by a head over Captain Bodgit, then took the Preakness by a head over Free House. Silver Charm looked like a possible winner in the Belmont stretch but was nailed shortly before the wire by Touch Gold, who took the race by three-quarters of a length.
A year later, in 1998, Real Quiet, born on Little Hill Farm in Ocala and also trained by the high-flying Baffert, passed everyone in the far turn and held off Victory Gallop at the end to win the Derby. He made a very similar move in the Preakness, this time had to catch Victory Gallop, and pulled away at the finish. In the Belmont, Real Quiet repeated his previously successful tactics, opening up a big lead in the stretch and convincing most viewers a Triple Crown winner was finally at hand. Victory Gallop came charging down the stretch again, but surely his quest would be futile with such a deficit to overcome. Even at the wire, it looked to the great majority like Real Quiet had held off the foe, but the hopeful crowd quieted quickly as the PHOTO sign flashed. Then the stunning posting on the toteboard and the simultaneous announcement that Victory Gallop had prevailed in a race which could not have been closer. There must be some kind of a jinx, thought Baffert, and many agreed. The horse which appeared to have won to tens of thousands of naked eyes was beaten, alas, in the decisive photograph. Curses, foiled again!
The last horse to have a shot at the Triple Crown in the final year of the century was Charismatic, a well-bred colt who did not live up to expectations early on. Just to show you that everybody makes mistakes, Charismatic was being run in claiming races by the knowledgeable D. Wayne Lukas just three months before the Kentucky Derby, where he went off at 31-1 odds, beating Menifee by a head. He repeated in the Preakness, this time frustrating Menifee by 1 1/2 and the still-doubting bettors, who sent him off at 8-1. He was finally favored in the Belmont at 2-1 and took the lead into the final furlong, where he was overtaken by the eventual winner Lemon Drop Kid, ultimately finishing third. After the wire, jockey Chris Antley jumped off the horse and held up the colt’s left front leg. It was broken in two places and Antley’s quick response probably saved the horse’s life. Charismatic’s surgery was successful and he eventually retired to stud in Japan, perhaps the most deserving of the Triple Crown non-winners.
Next Week: the five horses of the current century who captured the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness and subsequently faltered, one way or another. Will California Chrome be the sixth—or will he find the key hidden so well from his predecessors?
Victory Gallop Nips Real Quiet At The Wire
Epilogue:
There are two kinds of Flying Pie readers out there—those who find themselves consumed, at least this time of year, by horseracing, and those who advise “Wake me when it’s over.” Unfortunately for the latter, we have a couple more weeks to go. Hey, you can always scroll back into the depths and read the old blogs. For the rest, of which there are a surprising number (first-day readers during this time of year are way up), we hope you’re learning something, especially the bettors. And for those bettors, Cosmic Flash will run this weekend—which includes the Monday holiday—and the odds should be lofty. If the dirt race goes, bet him 1-2. If we’re on the grass, be more careful. The race date is not resolved yet but Sunday or Monday is likely.
That’s all, folks….
