Horse racing has provided us with two unexpected fairy tale winners in the first two races of the Triple Crown.The Kentucky Derby was won by a long shot and the Preakness Stakes won by a filly, while jockey Calvin Borel won both. Heading into the 124th Kentucky Derby, I Want Revenge was the favorite with 3-1 odds while Mine That Bird was in the back of the pack with 50-1 odds.
I Want Revenge couldn’t fulfill it’s name in this race as the horse was scratched from the Derby hours before the race started which bumped Friesan Fire to the favorite spot with 7-2 odds. Mine That Bird made a run at the end of the 1.25 mile race, as the winner usually does, to pull well in front of the second place finisher, Pioneer of The Nile, and win by a convincing 6.75 lengths. Just like almost every Triple Crown race, the winner came from the back of the pack in this one as well. However, I don’t recall a horse making up as much ground in such little time as Mine That Bird did en route to the victory. Led by jockey, Calvin Borel, Mine That Bird pulled the second biggest upset in the 124-year history of the Derby by overcoming the 50-1 odds and the other 18 horses expected to finish better than him for the jockey’s second Derby win. The race, which lasted 122 seconds, was built up all day by hours of pre-game shows that didn’t mention a thing about the possibility of Mine That Bird being victorious.
So how would the Fairy Tale horse follow up in the second race of the Triple Crown? Almost as well as he did in the Derby as he proved in the Preakness that the horse is for real. However, he finished behind just one horse for a second place finish in his ffollow-up act and couldn’t get the second of three wins needed to complete the Triple Crown. Surprisingly, the continuation of the 31-year record drought without a Triple Crown winner wasn’t the big story out of this race in Baltimore. The biggest story from this Saturday’s race was the fact that a Filly not only raced in the Preakness Stakes, but even won the event. Rachel Alexandra is the name of the first Filly to win the race in 85 years as the female horse finished the 134th Preakness Stakes in 115 seconds and ahead of the 12 male horses for the win. Mine That Bird, ridden by a different jockey, tried to make a push from last place, but fell a little short losing the race by one length. Unfortunately for Mine That Bird the race was only 1 3/16 miles long as it seemed like he only needed about ten more feet to overtake Rachel Alexandra and win his second race in as many chances in the Triple Crown. Calvin Borel decided he’d rather ride the Filly for this race and made history by becoming the first jockey to win both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes with two different horses. Rachel Alexandra overcame the odds and a number 12 spot to become the 11th Filly to win a Triple Crown race and has the opportunity to go for a second win at the Belmont Stakes as she is expected to participate in that race as well. They were unsure if Mine That Bird would race in the Preakness, but he did and he did almost as well. It was good to see Mine That Bird prove, with a different jockey, that his Derby win wasn’t a fluke. Now we’ll have to see how Rachel Alexandra follows up her fairy tale win to prove to the world that she too is not a fluke.A 50-1 odd winner got topped by the first Filly winner in 85 years. Two unthinkable historic finishes in the first two races of the Triple Crown. So now, who will top Rachel Alexandra and add to this historic time in horse racing? We’ll find out on June 6th at the Belmont Stakes.
