From
where I sit it looks like there is some major controversy over the Belmont Stakes...
I
can fully appreciate how Steve Coburn feels. It's frustrating to say
the least. I have never seen a Triple Crown winner. I wasn't born
when Affirmed won in 1978. Every year we all go in hoping to see
history, but once again we are greeted with disappointment. For the
majority of sports fans the only time they pay attention to horse
racing is the Triple Crown. There have been plenty of close calls in
the years since Affirmed. But this one seems particularly galling.
It was the glorious underdog, with the blue collar owners taking on
the establishment. In other words it had the making of a perfect
Hollywood script. And since we all grew up on the ideal of a perfect
ending, this felt like it should be preordained. Sorry gang, but
reality and the rules got in the way. To begin with there's the
basic principle of sport: For every winner there is a loser. I'm
sure the Miracle on Ice played out much differently in the USSR.
Bill Buckner, Steve Bartman and Ralph Branca all have their names
etched in history for their part in losing. That's the reality of
life. California Chrome will be remembered as a great horse, who
came up one race short. The other issue is the use of fresh horses.
And that just comes back to the whole idea of playing by the rules.
Any eligible horse can be entered in any or all of the races. It's
that simple. Coburn can stand screaming in self-righteous
indignation until he's blue in the face. But he's still the newcomer
taking on a couple centuries of horse racing. Nevermind the lack of a Triple Crown winner since 1978, there hasn't been an
English Triple Crown winner since Nijinsky in 1970 and he's the only
post World War 2 winner. The point is that it's hard to do. And
that's what keeps people tuning in. The chance, however remote it
might be, that some day we will see a horse beat all comers and write
his name in hsitory.
At
least that's how I see it, and I sit in the cheap seats.
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