[UPDATE: Summer Bird, not Mine That Bird, wins the Belmont Stakes. Mine That Bird comes in 3rd.]
The final leg of the Triple Crown will be run tomorrow, Saturday June 6. However, there will be no Triple Crown horse winner. The only triple crown winner there might be is Calvin Borel, the jockey who rode Mine That Bird to victory in the Kentucky Derby and Rachel Alexandra in the Preakness.
So he comes full circle and Borel has guaranteed that Mine That Bird (post position 7) will win the Belmont Stakes. Borel says in the NYRA,
“I’m confident, I got a great colt and he shows up every time. Hopefully he’ll like this surface and he’ll like the trip he gets around there. He seems to really get over the racetrack good, so that gave me a lot of confidence. We’re ready, it’s just a matter if we’re ready enough.”
Woolley, Borel, and the owners of Mine That Bird, Mark Allen and Leonard Blach were in Manhattan earlier in the week to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. Its been quite a ride for all these men.
So just where is Rachel Alexandra, Preakness winner? Viewers will recall that Mine That Bird roared up on Rachel Alexandra as she went over the finish line. Those of us who chat horse-racing all commented that on a longer track, like the Belmont, which is a mile and a half track, there might have been a different outcome. Apparently her owners share that feeling, according to racing websites:
Rachel Alexandra and the people closest to her know when it’s time to step off stage, if only temporarily. Owner Jess Jackson and trainer Steve Asmussen pulled the 3-year-old filly from Saturday’s Belmont Stakes. Calling their decision wise understates it.
Her Pimlico Preakness triumph was her fourth consecutive graded stakes win of 2009. Jackson and Asmussen realized their weary lass might have tanked in a Belmont field that includes several fresh horses, and asking her to run the Belmont’s additional 550 yards was too much. They didn’t need to put her in the race to sense that.
Mine That Bird is a come-from-behind horse who appears out of nowhere, and wins—a horse everyone seems to love. One has to ask if Borel had ridden him in the Preakness, would we have a Triple Crown winner?
Why is it that I just think Calvin Borel is a spoiler? Has he never heard the expression ‘dance with the one who brung ya?’ The racing season really has turned into a soap opera: As the Triple Crown Turns? I imagine when this is all over the humans will all start talking about each other like they are dogs. Meanwhile, I just wish that Mine That Bird had been allowed in the New York Stock Exchange to ring the opening bell. Small consolation for missing the Triple Crown by a length.
Charitable Man, Dunkirk, Summer Bird, Mr. Hot Stuff, Flying Private, Luv Gov, Miner’s Escape, Brave Victory, and Chocolate Candy for a field of 10.
Excellent – glad to see Borel on Mine That Bird again. I didn’t even realize today was the final leg of the Triple Crown. Shows you that I’m still a novice at the horse racing stuff. Mine That Bird and Borel have peaked my interest though. I’ll have to set it up to record, at the very least.
This is it. The final race, until next year.
If I need a fix between now and then, I will just have to go to Charles Town. Their terrace room is neat. Dinner and horse racing. I have a problem staying away from the slots though. sigh……
Love those slots…they are adicting.
I too am glad to Borel on Mine That Bird again. I really hate the fact that philly had to get in on the action at Preakness. We more than likely would have a Triple Crown winner this year. But nooooo…that damn philly won at The Preakness.
I have never been to Charles Town. As I grew up in NJ, been to Atlantic City many times and played the slots there – a couple of times won, most times lost just the set amount I had put aside to bet. Also have been to Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe – and most recently Macao (near China) and put a small amount of money ($25 US roughly) down the slots there. Macao is famous for being shown in several James Bond films over the years. Slots are addicting – I make sure to only set aside a small amount of money to dump down them. Had beginners luck years ago in Lake Tahoe – had loose change in my pocket and decided to dump a few quarters in the slots as we were getting ready to leave – and I hit big and got something like $25 in winnings! Never since have really won anything – i’d win some and then lose it all back to the machine. It is fun, and hard to decide when to “walk away”!
I agree – what would have happened if Borel had raced Mine That Bird in the 2nd leg of the Triple Crown? Guess we’ll never know the answer to that one, but we can all guess…
What tracks are around Atlantic City? Are they horse racing or dog racing?
VA didnt have parimutuel betting until the past 10-15 years. Very conservative state. One couldn’t buy liquor by the drink until the early 70’s. [Sorry, I am mistaken. It was 1968.]
Atlantic City just has casinos – no racetracks that I know of. There used to be on up near Asbury Park in New Jersey – I forget the exact town. We used to pass it on the way to the beach. Never stopped there though – but this was when I was young and would go to the beach every other weekend or so with my uncle.