June 7, 2008
BELMONT PICKS?:
Okay, no one had Macho Man in the Preakness so we'll all try again in the Belmont:
1½ Miles From a Historic Feat: Triple Crown Within Reach for Big Brown (John Scheinman, The Washington Post)
If the undefeated Big Brown is to be derailed in his quest to become the 12th winner of the Triple Crown, something alarming likely will have to happen. Yet alarming things repeatedly have happened since Affirmed held off Alydar three times in a row and last captured the Triple Crown in 1978: The nearly invincible Spectacular Bid -- "the fastest horse to ever look through a bridle," according to the late trainer Grover "Bud" Delp -- didn't win the Belmont. Real Quiet looked home free under jockey Kent Desormeaux, who rides Big Brown, only to be run down and beaten in a photo finish by Victory Gallop in 1998. Charismatic broke down near the wire the year after that. War Emblem stumbled at the gate in 2002. Funny Cide worked too fast before the 2003 race. The plodding Birdstone caught Smarty Jones in 2004.Big Brown has the built-in vulnerability of a quarter crack in his left front hoof, but most horsemen queried about the injury dismissed it as more of a nuisance than threat.
With morning-line odds of 2-5, Big Brown is an overwhelming favorite, and, strengthening his hand, his anticipated chief rival, Casino Drive, may be scratched after showing signs of a bruise Friday in his left rear hoof.
Should Casino Drive be withdrawn by his Japanese connections, only long shot Da' Tara would remain among the eight other entrants as a horse with confirmed front-running speed. In his five career starts, Big Brown has proved capable of seizing the lead and running his opposition into the ground, as he did in the Florida Derby; he can sit comfortably behind moderate fractions, gradually increase his stride and pull away, as he did in the Kentucky Derby; and he has ability to unleash a stunning burst of speed to instantly separate himself from the field, a new dimension on display in the Preakness.
His Belmont opponents have shown none of those talents.
MORE:
While we hadn't planned on a Preakness contest, we just got two copies of Steven Pressfield's new novel, Killing Rommel, to give away (courtesy of Authors on the Web). We're big fans and this one looks like a combo of The Eagle Has Landed and Rogue Male.
Pick your top two finishers in the race and we'll give out some more books.
MORE:
-ESSAY: The Last Honorable War (Steven Pressfield, April 24, 2008, Military.com)
INTERVIEW: World Class novelist Steven Pressfield previews his latest masterpiece, Killing Rommel (Hugh Hewitt, May 02, 2008)
-PODCAST: Steven Pressfield's New Book "Killing Rommel" (Military.com, May 6, 2008)
-REVIEW: of Killing Rommel: A Novel of War by Stephen Pressfield (Mark Whittington, published May 07, 2008 , Associated Content)
-REVIEW: of Killing Rommel (Kirkus Reviews)
-REVIEW: of Killing Rommel (Michael Lee, BookPage)
Big Brown & Yankee Bravo
Posted by: Jim Siegel at June 3, 2008 6:03 PMBig Brown & Yankee Bravo (who said a Red Sox fan can't root for a Yankee?)
Posted by: Jim Siegel at June 3, 2008 6:12 PMI'll play safe and say Big Brown/Casino Drive.
Posted by: PapayaSF at June 4, 2008 12:28 AMBig Brown and Casino Drive
Posted by: Bartman at June 4, 2008 8:17 AMI didn't look to see if anyone had my pick before I posted. If we aren't allowed to pick an already picked pair (of pickled peppers) I'll go out on a limb and say
Casino Drive and Denis of Cork...
Posted by: Bartman at June 4, 2008 8:19 AMGayego and Big Brown
Posted by: Brandon at June 4, 2008 10:52 AMStupid comments in the article re: the Belmont. The guy may be an economist ... but he knows nothing about the history of thoroughbred racing, how the sport/breeding has changed things, or that Secretariat was an anomoly physically, and lastly: the Triple Crown is not supposed to be easy!
Posted by: Edgelady at June 4, 2008 1:21 PMBig Brown/Denis of Cork
Meanwhile, the headline blurb at ESPN Horseracing this morning is:
"Casino Drive was pulled as a precaution his human handlers say."
His "human" handlers? What other kind of handlers would the horse have? And even if he did have "animal" handlers, I suspect they wouldn't be saying much of anything at all -- unless he had Mr. Ed I guess.
Posted by: Jim in Chicago at June 7, 2008 8:24 AMWell, with my second pick scratched (Casino Drive) I'll make my pick (if allowed)
Big Brown and Denis of Cork
Posted by: Bartman at June 7, 2008 9:10 AMBig Brown
Guadalcanal
Once again I have to protest the egregious decision to change the Belmont post parade theme from Sidewalks of NY.
Posted by: Jim in Chicago at June 7, 2008 5:47 PMTo facilitate discussions in the comments, we require a name be submitted with your comments.