The Ups and Downs of a Thrilling 2007 Triple Crown

It Had More Than Its Share of Highs and Lows

A Column by Steve Davidowitz
June 13, 2007

Just as there were important positives and negatives to evaluate going into the Belmont Stakes (see last week's column), the entire 2007 Triple Crown chase had more than its share of highs and lows.

For instance, didn't we see the equine equivalent of a biblical miracle when Street Sense won the Kentucky Derby (G1)? How else could he have accelerated past 19 rivals through a wide, abandoned path along the rail unless Moses was in front of him parting the Red Sea on a pony? Then again, a good case could be made that the rest of the Derby jockeys were taking a nap despite 130,000 screaming Churchill Downs' fans trying to wake them up.

Speaking of strange rides, we were told that jockey Mario Pino was fired by the connections of Hard Spun after the Preakness Stakes (G1) for his premature rush into a blistering pace, a move that sapped Hard Spun of needed energy when more patience would have helped his chances. But, after his replacement Garret Gomez turned in a worse ride in the Belmont Stakes (G1), it could be argued that firing Pino was the real premature move.

Gomez, unwisely insisting that Hard Spun needed to be strangled off a sleepwalking pace of 50 seconds for the half mile and 1:15 1/5 for six furlongs, doomed his mount to defeat. After watching this horror show from the Belmont clubhouse, trainer Larry Jones did his best to be polite: "Must not have understood what we talked about yesterday, last night, this morning and in the paddock before the race," Jones said.

Translation: "Where the x!#@x#!@x#! was Mario Pino when I needed him?"

Speaking of trainers, is there any question that Street Sense's fine winning performance in the Kentucky Derby will help boost sales of the obscure book Carl Nafzger wrote in 1994: Traits of a Winner: The Formula for Developing Thoroughbred Racehorses.

Or, that Nafzger's decision to hire a PR firm to "boost his image and take advantage of new career opportunities" certainly was put to the test after he was castigated around the racing world for counseling owner Jim Tafel to bypass the Belmont Stakes.

Frankly, I liked the old, self-effacing Carl Nafzger quite a lot and believe that Belmont winner Rags to Riches helped bail out Nafzger and his PR firm by turning a negative story into one of the most exhilarating victories in modern Triple Crown history.

While the stretch duel between Curlin and Street Sense in the Preakness seemed to be as good as a it gets, didn't it get even better when Rags to Riches and Curlin battled nose to nose, shadow to shadow through cavernous Belmont Park in the oldest and longest Triple Crown race?

The Belmont Day crowd of 48,000 - the smallest in more than a decade - might have exceeded 75,000 if Street Sense had been in the field to face Curlin again. A Belmont Stakes rematch would also have boosted television ratings, which is no small matter in an era when racing has to fight for every seat in the house and every pair of eyeballs. But, with Street Sense out, trainer Todd Pletcher decided to put Rags to Riches in the field and we had the rare pleasure of seeing just how good this filly really is.

Let's just say she is this good: good enough to outduel one of the gamest, best three-year-old colts of the past few years; good enough to break the zip-for-28 Triple Crown losing streak for her champion trainer; good enough to end the 20-race Triple Crown drought for her champion jockey, John R. Velazquez. Fact is, Rags to Riches showed that she will belong in American Racing's Hall of Fame and she surely clinched spots in the same hallowed institution for her trainer and jockey as well.

Now, if only Nafzger can apply his textbook theories one more time to bring a fully fit and ready Street Sense to the $1 million Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga on August 25, he will save his newly hired PR firm the embarrassment of explaining how and why the Derby winner is otherwise occupied or on his way to the breeding shed to begin making tons of money for the rich-as-oil Dubai ruling family.

At this moment in mid-June, we can look hopefully at the prospect for a 'Mid-Summer Derby', where a potential record crowd will rattle the wooden rafters of America's oldest racetrack. Indeed, high-class racing for three-year-olds in America doesn't end with the Triple Crown, it never does. And, in 2007, a worldwide TV audience certainly will welcome the chance to see Street Sense, Curlin, Hard Spun, Rags to Riches and perhaps the lightly raced Chelokee and Sightseeing in the race of the year.

Meanwhile, horseplayers everywhere learned at least this much from one of the most competitive and challenging Triple Crowns seasons of modern times.

* The three races at three different distances at three different racetracks in three different states over a tight five-week period remains a supreme challenge for horseplayers as it does for horses, jockeys and trainers.

* Picking a winner in one of the three races is almost as difficult as riding or training one.

* Picking two winners is a fine accomplishment for bettors and participants.

* Sweeping all three races, especially when three different horses are in the winner's circle, is virtually as noteworthy as one horse completing the historic sweep. My congratulations to any reader who pulled off that 'hat trick'. Bravo!

Next Week: A look at the leaders in each division, including turf horses, sprinters, milers, fillies and mares, jockeys and trainers.

Steve Davidowitz will be at Emerald Downs in Washington State on Saturday, June 23 for a handicapping seminar and signing of his new book, The Best and Worst of Thoroughbred Racing, published by DRF Press.

Steve Davidowitz has written two highly acclaimed books on Thoroughbred racing---Betting Thoroughbreds and The Best and Worst of Thoroughbred Racing. He also is a regular contributor to Daily Racing Form's Simulcast Weekly and DRF Plus and his columns appear in the Bodog Racebook each week.