The Questions Begin
Now that the thrill of Saturday has passed and Afleet Alex has established himself as a most superior horse, the question of how he failed to become the first Triple Crown winner in 27 years is coming to the fore. “How did the colt who is clearly the best runner in his generation fail to win the 2005 Triple Crown?,” asks Rick Bozich (Courier-Journal). Bill Finley answers: “The only possible answer? It’s just a very, very hard thing to do” (ESPN). Expect this conversation to continue for years as people debate whether it was the jockey or the pace that cost Alex the Kentucky Derby.
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Trainer Tim Ritchey said “at least 15 breeding farms have inquired about Afleet Alex,” but that if an interest in the colt is sold it would be only for breeding and wouldn’t interfere with Ritchey’s racing plans (LA Times). The owners are “adamant” about seeing Alex run as a four-year-old. Cash Is King managing partner Chuck Zacney told Boston Globe reporter Ron Indrisano, “We never got into this for the money. I think he’s going to get better with age. We’re so attracted to Alex, and there are so many people attracted to this horse, that I’d hate to see an end to the trip. At the end of October, after the Breeders’ Cup [Oct. 29 at Belmont], if all goes well, I think we’ll probably start entertaining offers. But I don’t see anything before that.” I want to believe. Keeping the amazing Alex in training would be great for the sport, and there’s no reason to doubt the sincerity of Zacney or Ritchey, but:
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Speaking of Ritchey, it’s time to heap praise upon him for the unconventional training regimen he devised for Afleet Alex. Sending the colt out to the track twice a day to jog and/or gallop up to five miles worked wonders. “If [Ritchey] doesn’t win the Eclipse Award for his skill, creativity, patience and graciousness, I’ll be surprised,” writes Ray Kerrison in the New York Post. “Ritchey made absolutely sure to maximize the colt’s potential by having him so physically fit that he was able to run the final 440 yards of the Belmont Stakes as if he was going downhill,” says Dick Jerardi, reporting that Ritchey looked to the 1970s for inspiration:
Can there be any question that it was the hard training — combined with a rigorous racing schedule — that made Afleet Alex so athletic in the Preakness and so dominant in the Belmont?
The Sunday New York Times ran an oddly-placed lament on the decline of stamina horses in American racing. The article’s premise — that there was no Triple Crown this year because horses are bred for speed, not staying — didn’t make much sense in light of Alex’s Belmont win. Here was a horse with a pedigree that didn’t suggest he’d get the mile and a half distance with the ease that he did. Yet Alex won by seven lengths after running the fastest final quarter since 1969. It makes me wonder — is the problem that horses are no longer bred for stamina, or that they’re no longer trained for stamina? I’d lean toward the latter.
