Hello, and welcome to my horse racing blog, "Triple Crown Countdown." Its purpose, as might be guessed by the title, is to count down the days remaining days until the 2010 Triple Crown begins, and try to predict the winners. The Triple Crown, as all horse racing fans know, is a series of three races over the course of five weeks for three-year-old thoroughbreds. Only eleven horses over the course of some one hundred and thirty years have succeeded in winning the trio. It has been thirty-two years since the game chestnut Affirmed managed to hold off the courageous Alydar and complete the sweep. Now, I feel that my abilities as a handicapper have reached the point where I might successfully predict the next winner as early on as January.
As I said above, the Triple Crown consists of three races, beginning on the first Saturday in May, with the historic Kentucky Derby, held at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. A mile and a quarter in distance, the race has been run every year since 1875, and is the most famous and sought after of the three. It is followed two weeks later by the Preakness Stakes, held at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland, at a distance of mile and three-sixteenths. Finally, the series in completed with the Belmont Stakes, the oldest of the three races, held at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is by far the longest of the trio, at a mile and a half.
That said, I feel now is the appropriate time to introduce myself. My name here shall be Keelerman. I have been following horse racing, to some extent, for several years. I have cheered on Funny Cide, Smarty Jones, and Big Brown in their attempts to sweep the crown and, each time, I have seen them fall short. However, I only seriously began paying attention to this sport when Colonel John won the Santa Anita Derby with a late move that astounded me. I was thrilled, and completely hooked.
Soon, I was reading horse racing magazines, learning which tracks were dirt, which were synthetic, and making decisions on which horse had the best chance to win that year's Derby. I finally decided that Colonel John was the one, and that he would also sweep the Triple Crown. However, at the finish line, it was not Colonel John, but Big Brown who came thundering under the wire in the same manner I thought the Colonel would. I was disappointed, but soon forgot about it. Colonel John would win again, I felt sure. Meanwhile, it was time to respect Big Brown and cheer him on in the Preakness. The rest of the story is history. Big Brown won the Preakness and was eased turning for home in the Belmont. I was dejected, as the Triple Crown would remain unclaimed again, but it did not last for long, because then something happened that would change everything.
I was glancing back through some issues of The Blood Horse from a few months prior, and a cover picture caught my eye. It was Curlin, winning the 2008 Dubai World Cup.
Suddenly, I remembered. I remembered looking over the names of the horses entered in the 2007 Kentucky Derby. I had decided that Curlin was a nice horse, although I don't really remember why. I had him pegged to finish third in that Derby, which he did, some seven lengths behind Street Sense. Then he managed to win the Preakness by a nose over the latter, and I knew he was more than just a nice horse. I hoped that he might pull off a win in the Belmont too, but the filly Rags to Riches out fought him to the wire. After that race, I just about forgot about Curlin. The magazine suddenly made me recall everything. I opened it up and was astonished. Best horse in the world? Looking to secure the record for richest North American based runner of all time? I could not believe that I had seen this horse run. Then I went back to find out what other races he had won. Breeders' Cup Classic, Jockey Club Gold Cup, Stephen Foster Handicap, and Arkansas Derby. Those name meant nothing to me at the time, but I understood that they were important, the Classic especially.
At this point, I was really captivated by it all. My hero, Curlin, was one of the best horses of the decade, maybe of the past one hundred years, Big Brown had come out of the Belmont without injury, and then, to top it all off, I noticed that an undefeated mare name Zenyatta was starting to make a name for herself at in California. . .
But that is a story for another time. For now, I have stated the purpose of this blog, and named off the horses that got me into this sport. And now, without any further discussion, I shall post my picks for the Triple Crown. This list is organized only by my belief in their ability to sweep the crown. Therefore, I feel that Buddy's Saint, at the top of the list, has best chance to sweep the series, with Lookin at Lucky having the second largest chance, and so forth. After the twentieth horses is a brief list of those who should be watched closely, as they may step up, run a big race, and change my opinions. As there are many races every week leading up to the Triple Crown, this list will change frequently. Check back often to see who the current pick is.
Keelerman
posted by Keelerman
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