We're waiting....

Another year, another foiled Triple Crown. With the talent that has conquered the Derby over the years, I'm beginning to think Affirmed's successful Trinity in '78 is safe for the long haul. Not to ignore the splendor of animals like Alysheba, Sunday Silence, and Thunder Gulch, but just in the past few years the sweet taste of Triple Crown has been crudely purged from our mouths--as it was on Saturday with Curlin's remarkable stride past Street Sense.

First, it was the dangerously athletic and substantially lucrative Fusaichi Pegasus, who came into the Triple Crown in 2000 with more hype than a new Star Wars installment. After gassing the Derby field he came up short in the Preakness to a fresh Red Bullet. War Emblem? Close, but no cigar...or in his case, no flesh cigar. Not many people gave the sack-less Funny Cide much of a chance in '03, but perhaps a rough rail trip through the ankle deep mud at Belmont is all that hindered history that year...well, that and the fact that Empire Maker was a beast when he wanted to be. Smarty Jones? Oh, what should have been. I will continue to tell myself that Barbaro had the necessary ingredients to sweep the Crown, but I guess Billy Joel was right.

Fu-Peg. Smarty Jones. Barbaro. Street Sense. Hell, even Afleet Alex and Curlin. All superstars, and yet we still wait. There are those who say that the industry needs another TC champion. I believe those cries are mostly from the outside looking in, for the annual anticipation of another Affirmed-like feat keeps the masses tuning in each year. And then there's the gambling, which isn't going anywhere, and if certain Gubernatorial elections play out as expected, will only be expanding. No, I believe horse racing is good to go for the forseeable future, although I do worry about the drugs. Let's face it, trainers and owners will continue to cheat, or loophole, however you choose to paint it, and as soon as the media is through with baseball and Lance Armstrong,I fear they may leech onto horse racing "like flies on a ribroast."

Rest easy Affirmed. (pours his Natty light to the ground)