Bored to death with the whole idea of the Triple Crown in the wilderness since Affirmed won it in 1978? Can’t stand the suspense, now that another Belmont Stakes has arrived with the promise of a Triple Crown looming large?
A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit alleging that American Pharoah’s owner, Ahmed Zayat, reneged on a $1.65 million debt, citing the statute of limitations and the plaintiff’s difficulty in proving his allegations, according to court records.
American Pharoah is the 14th horse since Affirmed to win both the Derby and Preakness, and on Saturday at Belmont Park he will start as the heavy favorite in the 147th Belmont Stakes as he attempts to end a 37-year drought and become racing’s 12th Triple Crown winner.
For the better part of the last two decades, Bob Baffert and Todd Pletcher have been the dominant trainers in horse racing. Baffert, the best in the West, and Pletcher, the beast of the East, have participated in – and won – virtually all of the biggest races the sport has to offer.
Over the previous 36 Triple Crown seasons, 13 horses have won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness but have been unable to close the deal in the Belmont. One of those, I’ll Have Another in 2012, never made it to the starting gate; the others were derailed by fate, circumstance, or just a better horse on that day. Each day leading up to this year's Belmont, we will take a look at one of the 13 failed attempts at capturing Thoroughbred racing’s most-elusive prize.
FROSTED is positioned for an “upset” as the likely second choice in the Belmont Stakes. He has been freshened five weeks since a solid fourth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, a race dominated by frontrunners. Frosted was one of the only late runners to make an impact. He was shuffled early, uncorked a wide move on the far turn, kept to his task late, and missed by only 3 1/4 lengths. He skipped the Preakness, enters the Belmont fresh, and has looked good in morning workouts, according to clocker reports.
Can American Pharoah win the Belmont Stakes and become the first winner of the American Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978? Of course he can, but he’s a very bad bet to do so at 3-5.
It isn’t often a trainer could run the defending Breeders’ Cup Classic winner in a Grade 1 race and have it be only the second most important race of his day.
Of the eight 3-year-olds scheduled to run in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, five – Frosted, Frammento, Keen Ice, Materiality, and Mubtaahij – will have run in the Derby and skipped the Preakness to await the Belmont. It is a strategy that has produced six Belmont winners in the past 12 runnings.
