Justify winning the 2018 Belmont Stakes to become the 13th Triple Crown winner. Photograph by Mike Lizzi.
Let us conduct a thought experiment, shall we? You are a world-class tennis player on the eve of the US Open. The night before it begins, a villainous individual steels into your room and injects you with a powerful, performance-enhancing drug. You, in a deep sleep, barely feel a pinprick. To you, it’s all a dream — but one that is about to become a nightmare.
Read MoreFans capture the moment when Justify captures the Preakness Stakes in the slop last year on his way to the Triple Crown. Courtesy Maryland Governor’s Office.
Who’s afraid of Howard Schultz? Everybody it seems. President Donald J. Trump was against the former Starbucks CEO-turned-possible presidential candidate, perhaps fearing he would corner part of the I’ve-done-the-business-thing-so-of-course-I’m-qualified-to-be-president market. Then someone must’ve reminded Trumpet that Schultz is a Democrat who would only rob the Dems of votes as a third party candidate, so Donnie Two Scoops has laid off.
Read MoreThe current political climate has broadened the mission of this blog and its title, The Games Men Play, deepening its commitment to culture and sex (gender), two of its themes. But in the meantime, I realize I have been neglecting sports. Time to get back in the saddle.
On Saturday, Jan. 28, Arrogate, the super gray colt, provided us with some much needed distraction by winning the world’s richest horse race, the $12 million Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park, defeating a retiring California Chrome. Previously, Arrogate beat Chrome in the Breeders’ Cup Classic while setting the fastest pace ever at the Travers Stakes against Exaggerator and Creator. Clearly, the 4-year-old, trained by Bob Baffert of American Pharoah fame, is the horse to beat. ...
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Am I the only one to feel as if the past week was something of a letdown?
First, we had a Belmont Stakes finish – Creator over Destin by a nose – that would’ve been thrilling had Exaggerator not finished 11th. That’s right, 11th. The horse that challenged Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist and bested him in the Preakness finished 11th. Something crazy about that.
At least Lani – the Nick Kyrgios of racehorses – has been improving. He finished third. No wonder everyone’s still talking about American Pharoah. Last year at this time, we were floating on the miracle of a rare feat. This year with the upset of Nyquist and then Exaggerator – meh.
The tennis news isn’t that much better. ...
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Well, experts like Joe Drape and aficionados like Thomas DeChiara will be rooting for Exaggerator – the Andy Murray of Thoroughbred racehorses. But I’m sticking with Nyquist for the Preakness Stakes Saturday at Pimlico Race Course in Maryland (5 p.m., NBC), where the forecast is for rain.
That shouldn’t bother Nyquist. You gotta love a horse that simply will not let anything or anyone get in front of him for too long, a horse that has the will, the sheer grit, the heart to propel himself to the front of the pack. Some animals – some people – simply must be first. ...
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Maybe now all the naysayers will zip their lips.
Or maybe they will unseal them long enough to say, “All hail, the Pharoah” as he gallops off to retirement, to stud, to immortality.
American Pharoah did it in Hollywood-scripted style – entering and winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the first Triple Crown winner to do so, at Keeneland in Lexington on Halloween, a treat for racing fans. But then, AP has been a treat for all those lovers of history who had a Triple Crown winner on their bucket list and thought they would never live to see the day. ...
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That is the question now that the bay has won the Preakness Stakes in commanding fashion (seven lengths) on a muddy track that caused Firing Line, the Derby runner-up, to stumble out of the gate, and AP stable-mate Dortmund, who finished third at the Derby, to fade to fourth at Pimlico.
History does not favor the Pharoah. Two charmers named I’ll Have Another and California Chrome took the first two legs of the Triple Crown in 2012 and 2014 respectively only to come up short on the Belmont Stakes’ 1 ½-mile course.
It’s no coincidence that the three horses that won the Triple Crown in the 1970s – Secretariat (1973), Seattle Slew (1977) and Affirmed (1978), the last horse to do so – all called Belmont Park home.
Then, too, many trainers save their horses for the Belmont, skipping the Preakness. Already, experts are talking about a fresh Frosted and Materiality giving the Pharoah a run for his money.
But I prefer to think the Pharoah will do it. He has endurance in his genes and a talent for adversity as his rainy Preakness triumph attests (even if he has to wear earplugs to keep himself calm). ...
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