JC / Railbird

How strange to go from a Derby field of twenty to a Preakness where they’d be lucky to scrape a field of ten. Harlem Rocker might make a nice competitor, although he’s a little green. Green but game, judging from his excellent Withers run.

Posted by Claudia on May 4, 2008 @ 11:59 pm

Just wanted to say your coverage of the Derby was great!!

Posted by John on May 5, 2008 @ 8:30 am

I’m already writing off the Preakness; it’s the Belmont that should be a real horse race. Perhaps I’ll be less cynical later in the week.

Posted by Superfecta on May 5, 2008 @ 8:58 am

Thanks, John. Much credit goes to Ed and Blinkers Off for their fantastic Derby week posts.
As for the Preakness — I hope Harlem Rocker shows up. He did run a bit greenly in the Withers, but stalked so beautifully and accelerated so well and might be the horse that can match Big Brown. And in the Belmont, I’m rooting for Casino Drive. Let’s make it three in a row for Better than Honour!

Posted by Jessica on May 5, 2008 @ 9:54 am

There’s was a moment right after the race that the telecast caught perfectly, if unintentionally. Dutrow is walking on the track with his arm around a woman. He says something like “they can’t beat this horse”.
It was a glimpse into something even more egotistic, maybe even bordeline sadistic, than what everyone had been exposed to all week from Dutrow. For a moment you could see that in his own head he had already cashed in on taking down the triple crown.
As un-likeable as Dutrow may be and the outcome of the Derby as un-likeable for everyday lovers of horse racing, myself included, I imagined this morning if it had been Dutrow instead of Larry Jones on ‘Good Morning America’ being thrown to the wolves and pounded mercilessly by Matt Lauer about how cruel horse racing is.
I’d like to believe in karma, life is strange like that sometimes. Even when a situation appears as bad as it can get, the creative side of all horse players can imagine something even worse.

Posted by o_crunk on May 5, 2008 @ 11:15 am