Over the past few weeks, we’ve tried, oh, how we’ve tried to make our readers aware of the monumental undertaking which is the capturing of thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown. Winning any three races within five weeks, let alone awesome challenges like the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes, each run over a different racetrack at a different distance, is not for the faint of heart nor the weak of pedigree. We’ve chronicled a history of failed efforts littered by facile injuries, bad luck, poor judgment and plain old insufficient talent. We have reminded that 36 years has passed since the feat was last achieved way back in 1978 when hippies still roamed the Earth. And then we, like practically everyone else, went out and picked California Chrome to win the Belmont. Will we never learn?
One of the reasons for picking Chrome, of course, was that he was obviously better than anyone he had raced against and even in his losing Belmont he still was, and don’t bore me by mentioning that Medal Count edged him by three-quarters of a length for third and Wicked Strong dead-heated him for fourth. If the Belmont was a three-horse race, there’s no doubt who would have been the victor. Which left us with the talented Peter Pan winner, Tonalist, who was almost too cute a choice, the history of Peter Pan winners in the Belmont being what it was. We liked Tonalist and we said so, but not enough to beat this crowd yet. We put him on hold for the Travers Stakes in August at Saratoga. Meanwhile, his trainer, Christophe Clement, not by any means a braggart, was telling everybody this might be the best horse he had ever trained and he has trained plenty of good ones. Maybe we’ll pay better attention when old Christophe has something to say next time.
When the gates opened, however, it was Commissioner, a non-stakes winner trained by leading conditioner Todd Pletcher and ridden by Javier Castellano, a formidable team, shooting to the lead. Everybody sort of sat around thinking “this, too, shall pass.” Tonalist, under the truly great Joel Rosario, decided to be third, just behind Colonel a Rod. As the race wore on and Commissioner showed no signs of faltering off a modest pace, people got increasingly uncomfortable. Geez, Louise, when is this guy going to run out of gas? Turns out he never did. Tonalist was lucky to get his head in front at the wire, the powerful finishing touch of Rosario coming to the fore as it did in the Preakness when he drove Ride On Curlin down the stretch to finish a close second.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, let’s check in on Our Hero. Chrome was a close second after a quarter and remained fourth, within striking distance, most of the way. He was inside horses much of the time and may have been less comfortable than usual but was never really obstructed. His rider, Victor Espinoza, got him outside with plenty of race left and he looked to be making a move at the top of the very long Belmont stretch. Unfortunately for him and his many admirers in the gigantic Belmont crowd of 102,000, Commissioner and Tonalist were not stopping. California Chrome finished tied for fourth, losing by less than two lengths. Turn out the lights, the party’s over. The TC dreamers were foiled again. Not that that’s a bad thing.
So, what happened, Victor Espinoza? “Well, as soon as he came out of the gate, he wasn’t the same,” the jockey said. Hmmn. This could, in retrospect, be true or it could be self-serving. TV commentator Kenny Mayne roundly criticized Espinoza for not taking the early lead from his inside post position when Commissioner, “not nearly the quality of horse Chrome is” set the none too quick pace. Fellow broadcaster (and ex-jockey) Jerry Bailey took issue with Mayne, however, pointing out that Espinoza had put his horse in the same position to win as he had in the last two races and the horse just came up short. It’s fascinating to speculate what might have happened had Chrome gone to the front. After all, nobody was really closing at the end unless you count Tonalist’s move to first from second. Would Chrome have acquired additional courage on the lead? Who knows? We’re inclined to give Espinoza the benefit of the doubt. He had his horse in the open on the outside in the stretch, just as before. This time, for whatever reason, he lacked the finishing jets he had displayed in the previous two races. We’re inclined to chalk it up to the tortuous schedule. While the horse looked great training at Belmont prior to the contest, the proof is in the pudding. Three races in five weeks added to the mile-and-a-half gauntlet that is the Belmont Stakes was probably just asking to much of this horse, if only by a meager two lengths. According to his trainer, Chrome will skip August at Saratoga and be ready for November’s Breeders’ Cup. If Tonalist annexes the Travers in between, the November race will probably be for the three-year-old championship. California Chrome will get another chance to prove who’s best. That race will be contested at a mile-and-a-quarter at Santa Anita, Chrome’s home track. Can we move November up a couple of months? We’re ready to see that one now.
Tonalist (Outside) Catches Commissioner
Dumb-Ass
Throughout the five weeks of the Triple Crown adventure, not to mention many days before, we have been exposed to the.…um, interesting owners of California Chrome, Steve Coburn and Perry Martin, who like to be thought of as “the little guys.” As we all know by now, the pair spent $8000 on a mare, bred her to a $2000 stallion and wound up with California Chrome. Their friends all derided the pair as “dumbasses,” leading to Coburn and Martin dubbing their one-horse stable the “Dumb Ass Partners.” They even have a donkey on their silks. We seldom see Martin. When we do, it’s to listen to him expound on the five thousand hours he spend researching pedigrees before making the fateful match. Congratulations on that one, Perry, now let’s see you do it again. Martin got a little peevish when he felt Churchill Downs had not provided his family with the Pope’s Seats for the Derby and sulkily stayed home from the Preakness. Gee. We don’t know about the rest of you but if we’ve got a horse running in the Preakness you will have to run over us with a zeppelin to keep us away. As for Coburn, well, he’s not staying home ever, which is not necessarily a good thing.
We first met Steve and his cowboy hat prior to the Derby, when he kept predicting (guess what?) his horse would win. Seemed like a nice enough old coot. The television people took a liking to him and all cameras were go for the Derby. We were a little worried in the aftermath that good old Steve, who looked like he might be dipping into the schnapps, might have a heart attack, but he held up. Good for him, we thought. You know how we are about old folks who are also “little” guys.
By Preakness time, Steve’s act was beginning to wear a little thin. California Chrome, he attested, was now “America’s Horse.” We knew this was positively not true, however, because we were not getting our share of the purses, as we would most surely have done if we, as Americans, were part owners. Still, we forgave Steve his sins because we know how it is when a racing rookie gets before those cameras for the first time. He suddenly becomes an expert on everything thoroughbred and his considered opinions are solicited by the news media everywhere. Steve won again, of course, and now he was unassailable, King of the World, sought after far and near, the owner of the next Triple Crown winner. Except….
Fate is a harsh mistress. Sooner or later, she will disappoint you and you must be prepared, you must be strong in the face of crushing disappointment. Fate has, after all, blessed you with the Glory Days, weeks and months unknown to most, when everything went like clockwork, where disappointment never visited. But what goes up must come down, isn’t that what the sages tell us (and they must be considered sages for some good reason)? It was sad to see Steve Coburn’s body fall limp as his dreams were smashed but it was worse, far worse to listen to him vent his spleen, to excoriate his worthy opposition as “cowards” who did not run every Triple Crown race, foolishly exhibiting his complete lack of understanding of the game. After all, Steve, if it were as you wished, there would not be 102,000 hopeful fans at Belmont waiting for the monumental result—many Triple Crowns would have been won by now.
Alright, everybody deserves a second chance, nobody likes a television microphone shoved in his face at the height of his greatest misery. Let’s see how he feels tomorrow. Not much different, matter of fact. Now, Steve spoke as an advocate for horses not being put through such a meatgrinder, stating there would never be another Triple Crown winner in his lifetime. What a difference a day makes. Surly and ungrateful for the bounty he’d received and for all that racing had done for him, he continued to pound his benefactor, proving that, indeed, his racing stable had been well-named after all. It was another 24 hours before Coburn relented. Then, amazingly, before the early-a.m. viewers of Good Morning America, he tearfully apologized. And it was no small thing. He apologized to everybody. He apologized to “the people of the world” and to “the people of America” and to “the racing people;” he said he was sorry to People First and to the Village People and to the People’s Republic of Donetsk, to people who need people, to People Magazine and The People Under The Stairs and even the Purple People Eater, for God’s sake. Alright, Steve, we got it, enough already. Unfortunately, before all this regret, a lot of damage was done. Because now we have to listen to it yet once more:
California Chrome’s Owners: Terminally Confused
Here We Go Again
It seems like I just went through all this with one of our readers, Kathy Knight, who had some of the same regrets as Steve Coburn. You can’t make all the classics horses run in every Triple Crown race for many good reasons. Should a contender be banished from the Preakness or the Belmont because he was injured or otherwise not physically ready for the Kentucky Derby? What if a horse is particularly suited for the one-and-one-half miles of the Belmont—should he be disallowed from contention for not running in races too short for him? How many horses would be left for the Belmont if entrants were restricted to competitors in the other two races? Would you get even three some years? Racing is operated by independent contractors. The tracks are independent, the trainers are independent. Races are won by placing your horses where they have the best chance of winning and when they have the best chance of winning. Races like the Triple Crown classics, the Travers and the Breeders’ Cup races get the best horses because the enormous purses and great prestige of the races are worth the risk.
Sure, nobody has won the Triple Crown in 36 years. So what? If the parameters of the Triple Crown were changed, how valid would be the accomplishment for modern winners? They would not have achieved the same feats as did their predecessors. Babe Ruth held the major league baseball record for home runs in a season for many, many years. Baseball teams did not rush out in frustration and move all the fences in fifty feet. Leave it alone. The Triple Crown, by its very nature, should not be won often. It’s just fine if it continues to be a will-o-the-wisp, just out of reach. After all, that’s why 102,000 people show up when the possibility is at hand.
That’s all, folks….
