For The Birds
Horsephotos.com
Summer Bird (red and blue silks) took the
third leg of the Triple Crown.
Calvin Borel and Derby winner Mine That
Bird came up short of racing immortality when they finished third
behind Dunkirk and winner Summer Bird in the Belmont.
Story |
Hovdey |
Forde |
Novak
Novak: Birds of a feather
The cell phone starts ringing at 4:30 a.m., congratulatory
calls for trainer Tim Ice from the people who weren't able to
reach him the day before. |
Moran: Belmont tests champions, humility
We've seen this before. The 12-furlong main course at Belmont
Park, the longest, widest dirt racetrack in the world, is
unlike any other. Experience counts. Those who discount its
importance at Belmont Park are doomed to lose. |
Cronley: No guarantee
The Belmont was pretty much over when the jockey on Mine That
Bird, the excellent Mr. Borel (when you're going to be
slightly critical, it's always nice to use Mister) guaranteed
a victory. |
Novak: Summer Bird ready to fly
On the Wednesday before the Belmont Stakes, trainer Tim Ice
stood on the apron at Belmont Park and watched Summer Bird
skip over a moist, sandy surface. |
Borel guarantees Belmont victory
On Monday, Mine That Bird worked a half-mile in 50 seconds at
Churchill Downs, after which jockey Calvin Borel said, "We're
going to win it, no questions asked."
|
Summer Bird sharp in Belmont Stakes work
A week before the 141st Belmont Stakes, jockey Kent Desormeaux
got acquainted with his mount, guiding Summer Bird through a
five-furlong work in 1:01.67 Saturday morning over a Belmont
main track labeled fast. |
Preakness: Rachel Alexandra outruns boys
Rachel Alexandra became the first filly to win the Preakness
since 1924, holding off a late charge by Kentucky Derby winner
Mine That Bird to capture the middle jewel of the Triple
Crown. |
Moran: The next-best thing
The last of 14 horses running down the Pimlico backstretch
launched his bid to stay alive for the Triple Crown just as he
had two weeks before at Churchill Downs. |
Cronley: Woman's work
I asked as many females who would talk to me at the simulcast
venue which horse they had wagered on, and to a person, they
all had something on Rachel Alexandra.
|
Preakness: It's about time
Rachel Alexandra had completed the 1 1/16-miles by a length in
1:55.08 over a fast track. She had also won the heart of a
racing industry in desperate need of revitalizing. |
Moss: Triple Crown medley
It's amazing what a good underdog story can do. Notice how
Mine That Bird seems to have temporarily sparked more interest
in horse racing among the so-called mainstream sports media? |
Novak: Bleak outlook for Maryland racing
It is easy to get caught up in the glamour of the moment, the
adrenaline, and storylines of the always-intriguing Triple
Crown trail. To view the Preakness telecast from afar, or to
come to the track for a single time this season, nothing seems
amiss. |
Moss: Puzzlement
Jess Jackson purchased Rachel Alexandra and will move her to
the barn of trainer Steve Asmussen and consider the Preakness
Stakes. |
Plonk: The straight shooter
In the end, it was trainer Chip Woolley's dark mustache that
curled the biggest smile -- and had the last laugh -- as Mine
That Bird did the unfathomable in the Kentucky Derby. |
Desert Party to undergo surgery
Desert Party has been diagnosed with a displaced chip in his
left front ankle and is scheduled to undergo surgery to have
it removed, according to information posted on the website of
his owners, Godolphin Racing. |
Quality Road resumes training
Quality Road, who missed the Kentucky Derby due to a quarter
crack, resumed training, galloping 1 1/4 miles on the training
track Sunday. |
Novak: Derby 135 casts fresh memories
Here came our predecessors: the power-suited professionals of
the 1980s and '90s, the long-haired flower children of the
'60s and '70s, the fedora-wearing, bel-air driving,
cocktails-at-happy-hour couples of the '50s ...
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