Horse Racing Fantasy Community

It's not even spring, but for those of us who love Thoroughbred racing, the countdown has begun. The first Saturday of May is within sight, and there are so many unanswered questions before 20 three-year-olds enter the starting gate at Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby.

Can this year's Triple Crown be nearly as dramatic as 2007's, when veteran jockey Calvin Borel became an overnight folk hero rallying Street Sense from last to first to win the Kentucky Derby. Only two weeks later, Street Sense and Borel looked home free in the deep stretch at Pimlico, only to lose the Preakness to Curlin, who hadn't even made his first lifetime start until February 3rd and finished a non-threatening third in the Derby. Passed by Street Sense at the top of the stretch, Curlin rallied under Robby Albarado to edge Street Sense by a head in the Preakness.

But in the Belmont Stakes three weeks later, Curlin could not hold off Rags to Riches, who out-gamed him by a head, becoming the first filly in 102 years to win the Belmont Stakes and giving trainer Todd Pletcher his first Triple Crown victory after 28 misses. That afternoon In the stands at Belmont Park, the normally stoic Pletcher was screaming at the top of his lungs, 'Come on Mama, come on Mama,' through the stretch.

How much better can it get than that?

Curlin went on to dust Street Sense and their elders in the Breeders' Cup Classic and earn Horse of the Year. Pletcher would earn his fourth consecutive Eclipse Award as the nation's outstanding trainer.

But racing again had no Triple Crown winner.

It's been 29 years since Affirmed held off his classy rival Alydar to take the 1978 Belmont Stakes and become racing's third Triple Crown champion in six years, but only the 11th of all time. There hasn't been another since.

From 1997 through 2004, six three-year-olds won the Derby and Preakness and headed to Belmont Park ready to become a racing immortal. Each of those years, Thoroughbred Times, the weekly magazine out of Lexington, Kentucky, asked me to do a story before that year’s Belmont Stakes about how the connections of the last three Triple Crown winners, Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Affirmed, would feel if there was a new Triple Crown champion. There was a caveat. Each year, the story would only run if the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner sealed the deal by adding the Belmont Stakes.

That meant each year, I had to pre-interview Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Affirmed's owners, Penny Chennery, Karen and Mickey Taylor and Patrice Wolfson. Penny, Karen and Mickey and Patrice couldn't have been nicer about it year after year, though we all agreed it was getting a little silly after all the misses: Silver Charm in 1997, Real Quiet in ’98, Charismatic the year after, War Emblem in 2002 and Funny Cide in 2003.

When undefeated Smarty Jones won the 2004 Derby and Preakness, we were back in business for the Belmont Stakes. Penny generously invited me to watch the race from her box seat at Belmont Park, which is just a couple rows in front of Patrice Wolfson’s.

Through all the near-misses, Penny, Patrice and the Taylors were rooting for a new Triple Crown winner for the good of Thoroughbred racing. All thought that Smarty Jones would get the job done, as did most of the overflow crowd of more than 120,000 – the largest crowd to ever see a sporting event in New York State history. When Smarty Jones opened up a substantial lead in mid-stretch, the deafening roar from the crowd sounded as if it would collapse the grandstand.

Then Birdstone suddenly rallied and overtook Smarty Jones just a 16th of the mile from the finish line. When Birdstone crossed the finish line to win, it sounded like the air being let out of a gigantic balloon. Penny shook her head in disbelief. Patrice was so upset, she was speechless. And racing had to wait again for another Triple Crown winner.