Delgado not bitter over what might have been
Jockey Alberto Delgado has a photo on his cellphone that starkly illustrates the excruciating difference between what might have been and what is.
Marty McGeeMay 15, 2014
Jockey Alberto Delgado has a photo on his cellphone that starkly illustrates the excruciating difference between what might have been and what is.
Linda Rice’s purpose for being in Maryland this week is two-fold. The first, naturally, is to run Kid Cruz in Saturday’s Preakness Stakes at Pimlico. The second is to work the sales grounds at nearby Timonium in search of the next big horse.
With several one-dimensional speeds entered, plotting the race flow of the 139th running of the Preakness is relatively straightforward. The obvious candidates to make the lead are Bayern and Social Inclusion, and the presence of that pair alone would be enough to ensure a quick, contested pace. Fairly elementary, at least on the surface.
When California Chrome won the Kentucky Derby, racing fans loved the story: down-to-earth owners, an old-school trainer, and a humbly bred colt. The saga could get even better as California Chrome attempts to win Saturday’s Preakness and move closer to a sweep of the Triple Crown. But there is some detail that doesn’t fit well with this hopeful story line.
In a fun-with-numbers exercise, draw a line through Dynamic Impact’s close second at Keeneland as a second-out maiden and see that on dirt he has never taken a backward step.
I try to avoid taking prohibitive favorites coming off perfect-trip wins, but I will make an exception for California Chrome.
The final numbers might have been slow, but there is little doubt that California Chrome was superior to his competition in the Kentucky Derby, and none of the new faces signed on Saturday look any better than the group he handled rather easily at Churchill Downs on May 3.
California Chrome, a winner of five straight, including blowout victories in the Santa Anita Derby and Kentucky Derby, enters with one major knock – price.
California Chrome just defeated a more talented, deeper group in the Kentucky Derby, recording his fifth straight stakes victory, and if he runs to his potential at Pimlico, he will win again in the Preakness.
California Chrome, the Kentucky Derby winner, landed post 3 in a field of 10 when post positions were drawn Wednesday night for the 139th Preakness Stakes on Saturday at Pimlico Race Course.