As they loaded into the Belmont starting gate, my mother called asking who was going to win.
My answer was a son of Birdstone owned by doctors and ridden by a Cajun jockey.
But I forgot one very important thing: there were two of those in the field.
See, Mine That Bird and Summer Bird have the same sire (Birdstone), have doctors for owners (a veterinarian vs. a cardiologist/pathologist duo), and were ridden by guys who learned to ride at the bush tracks in the bayous of Louisiana (Calvin Borel vs. Kent Desormeaux).
I picked the wrong pony.
But other than a ridiculous moment at the betting window (I was a lousy $1 short and had to leave a horse out – oops!), I don’t feel too terribly bad about the Belmont result.
This has been a year where the Triple Crown answers were obvious and yet overlooked: the Kentucky Derby saw a 50-1 winner who had been the Canadian juvenile champion and had excusable losses earlier in the year; the Preakness was won by one helluva freaky filly – the Kentucky Oaks winner; and the Belmont was taken by a racehorse on the improve who got a massive jockey upgrade and had the speed figures to say he was going to do something big.
I said I wouldn’t know what to make of Mine That Bird until around 6pm on Saturday night. It took just over two minutes, but I finally have my answer: that third-place finish tells me he’s a gutsy little horse who will always have my money backing him.
There was a lot of talk about this being the Calvin Crown, that Borel was riding for his own spot in racing lore by being the first jock to ever capture all three jewels of the Triple Crown on two different horses. There was a tiny amount of precedent: D. Wayne Lukas trained two horses to win the three races in 1995 (Thunder Gulch in the Derby/Belmont, Timber Country in the Preakness).
But before I give complete credit to Kent Desormeaux and his self-described “armchair ride,” I’m taking this opportunity to congratulate trainer Tim Ice on an incredible job. A lot of talk will center on his being a new trainer, as he’s only had his license for a year. But he’s spent an insanely long amount of time as assistant behind some “great on their home circuit” trainers like Keith Desormeaux (the jockey’s brother), Cole Norman, and Morris Nicks.
While I am on record as saying that Calvin’s ride won Mine That Bird the Derby (it was a masterful ride that reminded the horse he could be a winner), I will unhappily state now that I do believe Calvin lost the Belmont.
I want to believe that trainer Chip Woolley was right: Mine That Bird needed to be covered up by other horses because otherwise he thinks it’s time to go for the wire and he’ll run like the wind.
So I don’t think Calvin “moved to soon” or “panicked” as so many of my cohorts will say. I think he moved the horse to get a clearer trip, then couldn’t control the speeding bullet that he was suddenly piloting.
I think Borel said it best in the post-race press conference: We just got outrun, sir.
photo courtesy Eclipse Sports Wire
