I have actively hated two horses for years - Victory Ride and - TopicsExpress



          

I have actively hated two horses for years - Victory Ride and Birdstone. I have actively disliked another, named Lemondrop Kid for well over a decade. Why, you may ask, why have I hated these innocent and noble mammals? Because Victory Ride beat Real Quiet by a whisker - just a whisker - in the Belmont Stakes when the triple crown was on the line. Real Quiet was a dark horse running better than anyone expected in 1998. He had won the Derby and Preakness in style. I simply could not believe he lost at the wire. It broke my heart. Because Birdstone slipped past Smarty Jones after all the jockeys in the Belmont Stakes ganged up on Smarty to force him to run too fast earlier in the race. Birdstone didnt beat Smarty Jones; a set of asshole jockeys did it. And Jerry Bailey is still bragging about his part in it, claiming the jockeys role is not just to ride their own mounts to win when the crown is on the line, but to actively prevent the favorite from winning. Smarty Jones should have won the triple crown. He was miles better than the rest of his generation in a fair contest. That was in 2004. Lemondrop Kid won the Belmont because Charismatic, who was set to win, fractured his leg well before the finish line. Charismatic ran his heart out to win the Kentucky Derby while even his own trainer, Wayne Lucas, was cheering another house from the same stable, a good horse named Cat Thief. Charismatic then won the Preakness. He would have won the Belmont, even though he had dueled the first mile with the best filly in that generation, if his own body hadnt failed him in the last eighth of a mile. Charismatic still ran third in the Belmont, back in 1999. I understand that the jockeys are colluding to whip California Chrome in the Belmont today. They hope he will miss the start, with his head turned sideways or by bobbling in loose dirt. Hes in post 2, so they will try to bottle him up at the rail. To escape, he may have to use early speed. Then, in turn, different jockeys will try to crack Chrome by making him go too fast in an effort to maintain a position in the clear on the outside of the front runners. Then horses who skipped the Preakness, Wicked Strong and Commanding Curve, will try to catch Chrome late in the stretch. And fresh long shots like Commissioner and Tonalist and Todd Pletchers last minute entries will be doing all the can to spoil the day for Chrome and millions of fans. If California Chrome is beat several lengths by another horse, I wont be filled with bile and vitriol and red eyed hatred. It will be because he wasnt the best horse on this day. But if he loses by less than a length because he is tired from running all three races in the series while other horses rested, if he loses because jockeys ride against him instead of trying to win on their own mounts, then I will simmer in soul sucking hatred for many years to come. Sometimes I wonder if I take horse racing too seriously...
Posted on: Sat, 07 Jun 2014 22:34:58 +0000

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