ELMONT, N.Y. - It was riveting, surely one of the best races of the season.
Hero's Tribute, owned by John Oxley, and E Dubai, owned by Sheikh Mohammed, both came to run in Saturday's $200,000 Peter Pan for 3-year-olds at nine furlongs - and did they ever!
Overcast skies and a sloppy track didn't detract a bit from an exercise in courage and determination that will not soon be forgotten.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The Metropolitan Handicap was the feature when Belmont Park opened on May 4, 1905; it brought the crowd to its feet when the 3-year-old Sysonby, regarded as one of the greatest horses in American racing history, dead-heated with the 4-year-old Race King, to whom Sysonby conceded 10 pounds of actual weight.
C.V. Whitney's Equipoise earned a rousing ovation in 1933 when he won the Metropolitan for the second consecutive year under Sonny Workman. Equipoise was conceding 26 pounds to the runner-up, Okapi.
Newcomers, network executives, potential sponsors, and other children of all ages seem to have trouble warming up to horse racing. It's really not surprising given the gap between what they are promised and then delivered. Consider the last three times that the national spotlight was turned to racing and the storylines that were presented to the general public:
o Fusaichi Pegasus, the winged wonderhorse, syndicated for more money than any steed in planetary history, is 6-5 to nail down Horse of the Year in the Breeders' Cup Classic. He finishes sixth with absolutely no excuse.
ELMONT, N.Y. - A rising star for the second season.
All eyes will be on E Dubai Saturday when that promising colt by Mr. Prospector steps up in class to run in the $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes for 3-year-olds at nine furlongs. He was very impressive here two weeks ago, leading all the way and winning an allowance race by more than 12 lengths, giving him an eye-catching Beyer Speed Figure of 107.
WASHINGTON - When a horseplayer holds an especially strong opinion on a race, he is apt to announce to his brethren:
"They're giving away money here!" Such words are usually uttered with a touch of irony because the racing game is so difficult that surefire opportunities rarely arise. But for two remarkable weeks this month, a racetrack really was giving away money.
So while most mainstream racing fans were directing their attention to Churchill Downs and Pimlico, a segment of the gambling population focused on a wager at Chicago's Hawthorne Race Course.
BALTIMORE - It is always a bit anticlimactic when a Kentucky Derby winner loses the Preakness, as Monarchos did Saturday, because the sport has been deprived of the drama accompanying a Triple Crown pursuit. But racing fans need not fret; the 3-year-olds in this year's classics have proved themselves an excellent group, and they should generate plenty of exciting competition in the months ahead.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - You know you've lived a good life when winning a Triple Crown race or a Breeders' Cup event isn't the best thing you've ever done.
Ben Rochelle, who owned half of Snow Chief and all of Very Subtle, literally danced his way around the world. Vaudeville, television, movies, the big rooms in Vegas - name the town and there is a good chance Rochelle kicked up his heels on the local stage. He was a physical, exuberant dancer, very much in the Gene Kelly mold, with an athlete's graceful ability to make the most difficult moves appear effortless.
BALTIMORE - Is the Preakness the most difficult race to win of the Triple Crown classics?
Probably not. The Kentucky Derby must be the most difficult, because of the usual size of the field, the demanding preparation that precedes it, and the stressful background of Derby Day, with its huge crowd, noise level and excitement.
Having said that, and despite the fact that 16 horses won both the Derby and Preakness without having swept the Triple Crown, we submit that the Preakness is an incredibly difficult achievement to bring off.
BALTIMORE - Racing fans analyzing the Preakness will face a choice that horseplayers confront every day, in the humblest claiming races as well as the biggest stakes:
Horse A won his last race with an exceptional performance, but he did so with the aid of a perfect trip.
Horse B lost to A, but he ran creditably in the face of adversity.
Which one do you bet in their rematch?