ELMONT, N.Y. - The breaks of the game.
Bird Town is gifted with speed, so it is natural for her to be on or near the lead in her races. Under the circumstances she did well, winning some minor stakes races and just missing in others when she became involved in speed duels. Then, in last month's Kentucky Oaks, she stumbled leaving the gate, and jockey Edgar Prado's choice of tactics became restricted. He had to play the waiting game with Bird Town.
WASHINGTON - For as long as Thoroughbred racehorses have existed, breeders have sought to produce the best horses by creating pedigrees with the proper blend of speed and stamina. But the modern American breeding industry has rejected this traditional approach. It wants speed, speed, and more speed.
The emphasis has become so extreme that fast sprinters are more likely to become fashionable stallions than winners of long races such as the Belmont Stakes.
TUCSON, Ariz. - It remains to be seen if Dynever or Empire Maker or anyone else can run with Funny Cide, but one thing is certain: The only equine that could compete with him for media space in recent days was a jackass.
Idaho Gem, the test-tube full brother of the famous racing mule Taz, was created in a laboratory by scientists from the University of Idaho and Utah State and got his picture and almost half a page in The New York Times last week while Dynever was getting short shrift. The man-made mule also was covered heavily by media from coast to coast.
WASHINGTON - The 10 partners who own Funny Cide are ordinary citizens, but this fact makes them extraordinary in the horse racing game.
Their principal rivals in Saturday's Belmont Stakes are more typical Thoroughbred owners. Khalid Abdullah, who bred and owns Empire Maker, is a fabulously wealthy Saudi prince. J. Paul Reddam, part-owner of Ten Most Wanted, founded Ditech.com and sold it to General Motors for a nine-digit sum. Peter Karches, co-owner of Dynever, held $336 million in Morgan Stanley Dean Witter stock when he retired from the firm.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Great horses create their own industries. Seabiscuit has his book and his upcoming movie. Secretariat's considerable clout is linked to a foundation benefiting equine veterinary research. Northern Dancer manufactured his own line of personally stamped stallions, while Cigar had enough name recognition to become a crossover hit with mainstream media.
ELMONT, N.Y. - This could be a special week for Chris Clement, who saddled the 13-1 Mariensky for her first stakes victory in last Saturday's $150,000 Sheepshead Bay Handicap on the turf for fillies and mares and hopes to bring off another upset this weekend in the Belmont Stakes with the improving Dynever, winner of the Lone Star Derby.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Larry Barrera was just 18 years old when he was dispatched by his father, the flamboyant Laz Barrera, to travel with Affirmed through the 1978 Triple Crown. Larry remembers it all, from the cold April morning Affirmed arrived at Churchill Downs, to the beehive backside at Pimlico for the Preakness, to the denouement in the Belmont Stakes, when a weary Affirmed dealt noble Alydar that one, final blow.
NEW YORK - The owners of Funny Cide are in a financial position that is familiar to any horseplayer who has made it to the last leg of a multirace wager and now stands on the brink of a massive score. Not to take the romance out of a Triple Crown bid, but they're really supposed to do what any sensible horseplayer would: Hedge!