Thirty-two years and counting... · 18.05.10

Lookin at Lucky finally got a decent trip and showed that he is as good as his 2009 2-year-old championship suggested, while Super Saver was revealed as just another decent horse who got a dream drip in the Derby courtesy of Calvin “Bo-Rail”. Business as usual since 1978 on the Triple Crown trail.

And now it looks like neither the Derby nor the Preakness winner will run in the Belmont Stakes. On the one hand, it makes sense, especially if the trainer and/or owner feels that their horse needs a break. In Super Saver’s case, I had a bad feeling for him as he was being loaded into the Pimlico starting gate: NBC commentator Donna Brothers noted that he looked “tucked-up”, meaning that he had lost weight since the Derby, which is never a good sign for a horse going into a big race.

On the other hand, where is the sportsmanship? Where is the desire on the part of owners and trainers to capture at least two American classics? Was Riva Ridge sent back to the barn after he lost the Preakness? What about Bold Forbes, or Swale? Did Point Given, Hansel, or Risen Star skip the Belmont after redeeming themselves two weeks after a Derby loss? Have all Thoroughbreds really become little better than fragile china tea-cups in recent years? Or is it the egos of their human connections that have become fragile?

What is definitely fragile is the state of the New York Racing Association. Counting on a Triple Crown bid in order to make enough money to survive through the summer, the NYRA now may have to shut down operations before the end of the spring/summer meet.

My concern is that the Belmont Stakes now appears relevant only if a Triple Crown is on the line. If so, then the entire series is well on its way to becoming like the original English Triple Crown — technically still in existence, but increasingly irrelevant.

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What do you think?

  1. Today’s three year olds are too fragile and most of their great runs are chemically augmented as to not be representative of the true ability anyway. Ashamed

    — Jumron · May 18, 08:01 AM · #

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