Matt Graves pointed out last week that Affirmed and Afleet Alex have something in common: both won the Sanford and Hopeful at Saratoga as two-year-olds. Reading Pete Axthelm’s “The Kid” last night, I spotted another parallel: The 1978 Triple Crown winner also had a shortened Derby prep season — just 45 days — and the first race of Affirmed’s three-year-old campaign was a sprint that he won easily. His second was a 1 1/16 in which he struggled to beat even lightly regarded rivals. Sounds familiar.
Related: Another thing the two horses had in common is that they both had talented young riders — Steve Cauthen was only 18 when he rode Affirmed to the Triple Crown. Afleet Alex was piloted by an only slightly older Jeremy Rose to five wins in his first seven career starts. Rose won’t have the chance to ride Alex in any of the Triple Crown races though because trainer Tim Ritchey replaced him with the more seasoned John Velazquez early this year. I won’t presume to second guess that decision, never having trained a horse for a rigorous three-year-old campaign, but must wonder how secure Velazquez’s commitment to Ritchey and Alex is when his agent, Angel Cordero, has to call Ritchey to assure him that Velazquez will show up for the mount in the Arkansas Derby on April 16. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Posted by JC in Horses on 03/22/2005 @ 7:00 am / Follow @railbird on Twitter
– Trainer Nick Zito and jockey Jose Santos are among this year’s nominees to the Racing Hall of Fame. Voting results will be announced on May 31 and induction is scheduled for April 8. (Globe)
– An ESPN poll says interest in racing is up 5.1%. More than 37% of US adults says they’re fans of the sport. (BH)
– NYRA will begin using detention barns at the start of the Belmont meet on May 4. Plans for the barns aren’t finalized, but it’s expected that all horses racing on a certain day will be stabled in the barns 6-8 hours before running. (DRF)
– The Jockeys’ Guild asked Kentucky racing officials on Monday to raise weight limits for riders. The Guild proposes setting a minimum weight of 118 pounds for jockeys. (LHL)
– Send links, comments to railbird at jessicachapel dot com
Posted by JC in Miscellany on 03/22/2005 @ 6:55 am / Follow @railbird on Twitter
Both Steven Crist and Gary West have hit the Kentucky Derby history books and come up with a couple of angles for sorting out this year’s pretenders from contenders. Crist notes that of the last 12 Derby winners, all started their preps 11-17 weeks before the big race (Daily Racing Form — sub. req.), and West observes that of the last 40 winners, all had experience racing in fields with at least 10 starters before they got to the Derby (Star-Telegram). Put these two factors together, along with the results of recent prep races, and the list of top Derby hopefuls looks like this:
Bandini
Consolidator
Don’t Get Mad
Galloping Grocer
Going Wild
Greater Good
High Fly
Kansas City Boy
Naughty New Yorker
Noble Causeway
Scipion
Sort It Out
Storm Surge
Survivalist
Vicarage
As every handicapper knows, history offers no guarantees. But this list makes awfully interesting reading. There’s no Rockport Harbor, no Afleet Alex, no High Limit — all horses with tremendous potential who have all started their three-year-old campaigns late, have a two-race prep schedule, or haven’t faced crowded fields. As Crist says, “There are plenty of silly ‘rules’ about winning the Derby that are broken from time to time, and not every historical precedent holds up. Still, those that coincide with common sense are probably worth noting.” I’d agree.
Posted by JC in Racing on 03/20/2005 @ 11:45 am / Tagged Kentucky Derby / Follow @railbird on Twitter
