When Smarty Jones leaves the starting gate Saturday, he won't only be trying to win the Belmont Stakes. He also will be chasing the ghost of a horse whose stature has grown with every Triple Crown failure. By now, the story of Smarty Jones is well known and approaching legend status, but what of Affirmed, the last horse to win the three Triple Crown races in 1978? After 26 years, Affirmed's name still resonates, but mostly he is remembered only for his classic battles with runner-up Alydar.
BELMONT STAKES THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ELMONT, N.Y. - The seemingly endless vigil for the next Triple Crown winner will continue at least one more year as Affirmed, in 1978, remains the last to sweep thoroughbred racing's jewels. But today's 143rd running of the Belmont Stakes (post time 6:35 p.m.) offers the next best thing: a real rivalry. Better still, a rivalry in which the connections aren't afraid to speak their minds.
birdstone has history of upsets in triple crown LEXINGTON, Ky. - - Before Birdstone the stallion produced Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, Birdstone the racehorse was best remembered for spoiling another 3-year-old underdog's shot at history. It was Birdstone's win in the 2004 Belmont that blocked Smarty Jones from becoming the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed. Now Mine That Bird, an even less-predictable Derby winner, has arrived on the scene out of Birdstone's first crop. In fact, two of the 19 Derby starters were by Birdstone, including Summer Bird, who was sixth. The stallion stands at Gainesway Farm in Lexington for a $10,000 stud fee, but that figures to go up soon. Rail head goes here Mine That Bird's last-to-first muddy dash to victory in the Kentucky Derby...
Welcome to Pimlico Race Course for the longest day in racing. First race is 10:45 a.m., last race is scheduled for 7:12 p.m. Here we go. Race 1: Primary Witness ($8.20), ridden by Javier Castellano for trainer Mark Hennig, makes a four-wide move on the turn and beats Kurbat, with Julien Leparoux up, to the wire by a half-length in a 1 1/16 mile allowance race. Leparoux was involved in a fall on Friday afternoon but is riding today, including on Paddy O'Prado in the Preakness, which is today's Race 12. The winner is a grandson of Affirmed, the last horse to win the Triple Crown, in 1979.
After impressive wins in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, Big Brown looks like the real deal entering the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park on June 7 for a shot to become the 12th Triple Crown winner and first since Affirmed in 1978. Yet coming out of the Preakness you had to have a feeling the horse racing gods weren't going to make Big Brown's bid for a Triple Crown easy. And they haven't.
Super Saver, who erased that huge 0-for-24 donut from trainer Todd Pletcher's resume when he won the Kentucky Derby on May 1, has a solid chance to join racing royalty and become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978. The son of Maria's Mon appears to be a colt who's peaking at just the right time and has the tactical speed to avoid any potential trouble in Saturday's Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore before embarking for Belmont Park and the third leg of the Triple Crown on June 5.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Steve Wolfson saw Barbaro break from the gate early in the Preakness Stakes and knew there would be no Triple Crown winner this year. They call it the kiss of death," said Wolfson, whose father, Louis, owned the last Triple Crown winner, Affirmed, in 1978.
In eight days, trainer Todd Pletcher plans to send out Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver in an attempt to win the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of horse racing's prestigious Triple Crown. If successful, and if Super Saver emerges from the race in good order, he'll be shipped to Belmont Park, where on June 5 he'll attempt to become the 12th Triple Crown winner and first since Affirmed in 1978.
Somewhere in the racing machine that is Smarty Jones, there has to be an Achilles' heel. It may be exposed in the Belmont Stakes next Saturday -- or it may not, and the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner will become racing's 12th Triple Crown champion. So far, Smarty's been perfect. Not a flaw to be found. And that's why just about everyone believes this smallish, red chestnut colt is poised to give thoroughbred racing its first Triple Crown winner in 26 years, since Affirmed swept the Derby, Preakness and Belmont in 1978.
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