In the way

Bad luck, rivals have derailed recent Triple Crown bids

NEW YORK (AP) -- Since 1979, seven colts have had their shot at a Triple Crown derailed by everything from faster rivals to a misplaced safety pin to a broken leg.

A victory in the Belmont Stakes on June 8 would make War Emblem the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed became the 11th colt to accomplish the feat 24 years ago.

War Emblem led wire-to-wire to win the Kentucky Derby, then came from behind in winning the Preakness.

"He will win the Triple Crown," Maryland-based trainer Bud Delp said of the speedy black colt. "What convinced me was not the Derby because that was a gimme. The Preakness, they made him earn it. The fractions were very fast."

Bob Baffert, War Emblem's trainer, is supremely confident in his horse, going so far as to say, "There's not another 3-year-old out there who can beat him."

Delp noted how Baffert appears to be licking his chops in anticipation of a Belmont victory.

"I would be, too," Delp said.

That certainly was the case for Delp in 1979, and look what happened to Spectacular Bid.

Before the Belmont, the colt stepped on a pin that went a half-inch into his foot. Then jockey Ronnie Franklin chased longshot shot Coastal, a fresh horse that hadn't run in the Derby or Preakness.

The result: Spectacular Bid finished third.

"I blame losing the Belmont on two things: a bad ride by Ronnie Franklin and the pin," Delp said. "I don't know whether he was anxious and wanted to get the race over with, but he rode a very stupid race."

Bothered by the pin, Spectacular Bid never changed leads in the race, leaving him sore in his front feet. An infection developed and Delp worried that it would kill the colt. It took another 78 days before Spectacular Bid raced again.

"I had the best horse, but he was compromised," Delp said. "If War Emblem stays healthy, you've got another Triple Crown winner."

No one has come closer to winning the Triple Crown since 1978 than Baffert, who had near misses with Silver Charm in 1997 and Real Quiet the next year. Both colts finished second in the Belmont, beaten by less than 11/2 lengths combined.

Jockey Gary Stevens was aboard Silver Charm. In his recent autobiography, "The Perfect Ride," Stevens recalled how Silver Charm never saw Touch Gold coming on the other side of Free House.

"But at the sixteenth-of-a-mile post, I saw a shadow coming up on the outside. At that stage of the race, Silver Charm was near the rail, and the shadow was in the middle of the track, outside of my horse's line of vision," Stevens wrote.

"It was over in a flash: from well off the pace, Chris McCarron and Touch Gold swept by, snatching that victory from us. I was in a stupor for days - months, even - to have come that close to winning the Triple Crown and not to have had it happen," he said.

A year later, Stevens was responsible for denying Baffert and Real Quiet the first Triple Crown in 20 years. Real Quiet, under Kent Desormeaux, established a sizable lead. Stevens and Victory Gallop were about 11 lengths back when they made their move in the Belmont.

"I felt that our best chance of beating him was to launch a kind of sneak attack, the same thing McCarron and Touch Gold had done to Silver Charm and me the year before," Stevens wrote.

Victory Gallop won by a nose -- one of the few Belmont winners in the last 18 years to come from well off the pace.

War Emblem experienced a late challenge in the Preakness on May 18. Magic Weisner, a 45-1 shot, roared in from fourth place and finished second by three-quarters of a length. Magic Weisner will be back for the Belmont, in what is expected to be a record field.

"They all want to get the favorite beat," Delp said.

Sometimes, it's simply a faster horse that spoils a Triple Crown sweep. Alysheba and Sunday Silence were soundly beaten in the Belmont by horses that had both finished second in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness.

Bet Twice stayed near the pace in 1987, Alysheba encountered traffic and wound up fourth, beaten by 14 1/2 lengths. Two years later, Easy Goer was eight lengths ahead of second-place Sunday Silence at the wire.

War Emblem's front-running style is conducive to the 11/2-mile Belmont. Because of the distance, which is more often run on grass than dirt in North America, the pace should be slower than it was in the Preakness.

Of course, War Emblem's biggest obstacle could be bad luck.

In 1981, Pleasant Colony was spooked by a cameraman at the starting gate and ran third to Summing.

Two years ago, Charismatic was in the lead with 1 1/4 miles to go, then broke his leg near the eighth-pole. The colt finished third, beaten 1 1/2 lengths by Lemon Drop Kid. Charismatic's career ended that day, and 18 months later, his jockey, Chris Antley, died of a drug overdose.

 

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