2007 Triple Crown Stories Abound
Rags to Riches, Curlin, Street Sense Top Classic Races Season
What's next on the thoroughbred racing scene will unfold toward the Breeders' Cup this fall when duels could see renewals. The TC runs thrilled despite no new champ.
More stories than crop farmers have corn accompanied this year's Triple Crown races.
Street Sense's connections deferred to enter their Kentucky Derby champ in the Belmont Stakes after his nose/head loss in the Preakness Stakes.
Curlin became the new boy on the block in his Preakness duel with Street Sense.
Then Rags to Riches took her case to racing fans on the sweeping stage of Belmont Park. No filly had won the Belmont Stakes since 1905 when Tanya turned the tables on the boys.
Street Sense broke the juvenile champ jinx by winning the Kentucky Derby from a briliant ride by the engaging Calvin Borel. Trainer Carl Nafzger defied sense by starting the colt just two times in the spring before the Derby test.
Rags to Riches entered the Belmont for trainer Todd Pletcher, who was 0-28 in the classics even though he has led the racing world's trainers in victories over the last several years.
Jockeys jumped ship from mounts and reevaluated their positions as trainers juggled their entries. John Velazquez ended up aboard Rags to Riches in the Belmont when Garrett Gomez, her regular rider, had already jumped to Hard Spun before Pletcher's decision to run his filly against the boys.
Hard Spun trainer Larry Jones wanted Gomez, a Belmont Park based rider aboard Hard Spun. He wanted the colt to be able to control the pace in the Belmont distance of 1-1/2 miles. He favored Gomez's experience to get it done and give his colt a legitimate shot at the Belmont trophy.
Mario Pino, Maryland's leading jockey and Hard Spun's regular, had guided the colt to a third place finish in the Derby and a second place spot in the Preakness. Hard Spun finished fourth in the Belmont but wasn't close to the winner. He missed a place in history as just the ninth horse to win, place, or show in all three Triple Crown races in a single season.
Pletcher, ever hopeful, trained his winning filly against his stable colts prior to the Belmont. When Derby champ and Preakness place Street Sense passed on the Belmont, Derrick Smith and Doreen and Michael Tabor, owners of Rags to Riches, told Pletcher to go with his plan to put the filly in the Belmont field. They agreed the racing public would relish it.
When Gomez heard the news, he wanted back on board Rags to Riches. It was too late. He did the next best thing as a professional. He told Pletcher's jockey of choice, Velazquez, the filly would run, to just get her into position.
Rags to Riches is pedigreed to the hilt. Her dam, Better Than Honor, has foaled the last two Belmont winners, Rags and her half brother, Jazil, the Belmont's 2006 victor. The great runner and stallion, A.P. Indy, is the filly's sire, himself a Belmont title holder and a Breeders' Cup champion.
Rags to Riches' grandpappy is none other than 1977 Triple Crown Champion Seattle Slew.
Curlin was unraced at two. He emerged the horse to beat when all was said and done prior to the Belmont Stakes.
Somebody told Rags to Riches.
Girl power battled the boy to gather a wreath of carnations on her own.
