By Thomas Chambers
There were lessons to be learned from Saturday’s 134th running of the Preakness Stakes.
Rachel Alexandra is a special filly, Mine That Bird is for real, Kentucky Derby buzz horses can fall from grace mighty quickly, and I still don’t like the way Gabriel Saez rides Friesan Fire.
Blinkerless for this race, Big Drama made some drama after bucking in the starting gate and tossing jockey John Velazquez. On an ordinary racing day, they would have kept the horse in the gate and gotten the jockey back aboard, but in what looked almost like compensation for the exam they didn’t perform on Barbaro, Big Drama was taken out of the gate and given a histrionic once-over by a veterinarian.
Safely back in, he went to the lead as everyone figured he would. The Preakness uses just about the entire stretch before the horses get into the clubhouse turn and Calvin Borel used every part of it to gracefully tuck Rachel Alexandra right off the outside shoulder of Big Drama. Meanwhile, Mine That Bird retreated to the back of the pack, as is his style.
In a magnificent display of energy and speed management, Borel and Rachel were content to merely be involved in the lead, but when they got to the far turn, Rachel showed the first of two major turns of foot and danced to a length-and-a-half lead and was pulling away. Her position gave her a dream trip, unaffected by traffic. Mine That Bird began his patented Big Run and emerged between horses trying both to catch Rachel Alexandra and stay ahead of Musket Man. Rachel’s second turn of foot came at about the sixteenth pole when she fast-stepped forward again to gain much of her margin of victory. Another sixteenth, and ‘Bird would have caught her.
After absolutely gunning Friesan Fire on a severe angle to the first pack from the five hole, Saez kept pace and then was merely in the way as Mine That Bird tried to find a quick path to the front but was blocked. The sidestep ‘Bird had to make basically cost him the race as he finished a length behind Rachel, length-and-a-half if you don’t count her tail. Friesan finished 10th and Pioneerof the Nile was a very disappointing 11th.
So it’s on to the Belmont Stakes June 6.
Will Rachel Alexandra run in the grueling 1.5 mile “Test of Champions?”
Will Mine That Bird make the trip to Elmont, NY? A win there and he would have serious credentials for horse of the year. Trainer Chip Woolley says he came out of the Preakness in a most excellent manner.
Can Calvin Borel actually win a jockey Triple Crown? If Rachel runs, he’ll be aboard, but that doesn’t seem as certain at this point as ‘Bird running. Mike Smith, ‘Bird’s rider in the Preakness, will not ride him in the Belmont because he is committed to a horse at Hollywood Park that day. So does Borel get back aboard Mine That Bird? The dicey part is that Rachel’s trainer Steve Asmussen will want to take as long as he can to decide on running and Woolley has said he wants a jock lined up by early next week.
As of now, probable Belmont runners include Charitable Man, Summer Bird, Dunkirk, Chocolate Candy, Flying Private, Mr. Hot Stuff, and Miner’s Escape. But the Belmont field will be in flux until a few days before as the Triple Crown trail gets a bit of a breather.
At this point, and without a Triple Crown on the line, connections will start looking down the road to the Whitney, the Travers and on to the Breeders Cup.
Yellow Brick Road
Arlington Park depends on its world-class turf course to offer its best racing of the summer and the yellow brick road to the Arlington Million starts Saturday with the American 1000 Guineas for 3-year-old fillies and the Arlington Classic for 3-year-olds on the turf, and the Hanshin Cup Handicap (GIII) and Arlington Matron Handicap (GIII) on the Polytrack.
Illinois-bred Giant Oak, once on the Triple Crown trail, will go in the Classic. Trainer Chris Block has stated he would be going for the Mid-America Triple (Arlington Classic, American Derby and the Secretariat) and its $500,000 bonus for winning all three. Giant Oak comes off a second-place finish in the Illinois Derby, and he’ll butt heads with graded stakes winners El Crespo and Orthodox, and turf stakes winners Proceed Bee and Turfiste.
Other featured entries on the day include Consequence and Run All Day in the American 1000 Guineas; Indescribable and Serenading in the Matron; and Cherokee Artist, Dominican and hard-working Spotsgone in the Hanshin.
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Thomas Chambers is the Beachwood’s man on the rail. He brings you TrackNotes every Friday. He welcomes your comments.
Posted on May 22, 2009