The Return of Calvin Borel

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Does the name of Calvin Borel sound familiar to you?

He's a jockey from Louisiana, and, even if you only pay attention to horse racing in the five weeks of the Triple Crown, Borel's name should sound familiar to you. He's a Hall of Famer, a three–time winner of the Kentucky Derby; in 2009, he won the Preakness as well and became the first jockey to win the first two races of the Triple Crown on different horses.

In fact, when he won the Preakness (exactly five years ago this Friday), Borel rode a filly, Rachel Alexandra. It wasn't the first time that a filly won the Preakness, but it was the first time in 85 years.

It is important to know that because Borel apparently will be trying to duplicate horse racing history in this Saturday's running of the Preakness. It was reported yesterday that Borel will be riding another filly, Ria Antonia.

The immediate plans for the filly, who recently changed owners, were uncertain initially, but Jennie Rees of USA Today reports that "[a]n impressive workout Sunday under Calvin Borel seemed to seal the deal."

Meanwhile, Kentucky Derby winner and presumptive Preakness favorite California Chrome arrived in Baltimore Monday. He seemed to enjoy the attention he received, writes Childs Walker in the Baltimore Sun.

He's getting plenty of attention from other owners who would like to puncture the Triple Crown balloon. As I observed following the Kentucky Derby, the comparatively leisurely pace of the Kentucky Derby might encourage the owners of speed horses to challenge California Chrome in Baltimore.

Is that what is happening? Is Ria Antonia a speed horse who might be capable of challenging California Chrome?

Her new trainer isn't saying, only that he see the Preakness as being California Chrome vs. the field. If he is able to run the race his way, he will win. But if he is thrown off by something or someone, all bets are off.

Speaking of bets, according to the odds posted yesterday, the pending odds against Ria Antonia are 32–1. If the odds are unchanged Saturday afternoon, and Borel rides Ria Antonia to victory, it will be a big story — but it won't be the biggest story in Borel's career. Two weeks before he rode Rachel Alexandra to victory in the Preakness, he rode Mine That Bird, a 50–to–1 shot, to a huge upset win in the Kentucky Derby.

Borel rode Ride On Curlin in this year's Kentucky Derby on May 3, finishing seventh. Ride On Curlin will be in the Preakness field this Saturday, but Joel Rosario, who rode General A Rod to an 11th–place finish at Churchill Downs, will replace Borel.

(General A Rod has been confirmed for the race, too. Javier Castellano, who rode the winner in the 2006 Preakness, will be on board.)

The Second Jewel of the Triple Crown

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In 1996, Skip Away was second in the Preakness
and a memorable duel in the Belmont Stakes.

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I guess it was ironic that Skip Away, a champion thoroughbred horse that never won a Triple Crown race but came in second in both the Preakness and the Belmont, died yesterday, apparently of a heart attack.

Ironic because today is the 135th running of the Preakness Stakes.

Skip Away was the third–highest–earning thoroughbred in North America. Back in 1996, when he was a 3–year–old, Skip Away bounced back from an unexpectedly poor showing in the Kentucky Derby, starting with his second–place finish in the Preakness. Perhaps something like that will happen today.

If something like that does happen today, though, I'm inclined to think that would make Skip Away's death more of an omen than an irony.

For that matter, I guess you could find at least as much symbolism in the problems that congressional incumbents are encountering in the 2010 midterm campaigns.

But that's only if Super Saver doesn't win this afternoon. Personally, though, I'm inclined to think he will win. I don't have any special reason for this, other than the fact that Calvin Borel, who is becoming the hottest jockey in thoroughbred racing, will be riding him today, as he did two weeks ago at Churchill Downs.

I have long believed — and often said — that each of the events in thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown has its own unique identity and agenda.

• Of the three races, things are probably easiest — at least in terms of promotion — for the Kentucky Derby, the first jewel that was run two weeks ago. It always generates interest because, well, it's the Kentucky Derby.
  
  It is the big–name annual event in its sport, like the Masters is for golf, Wimbledon is for tennis and the Indy 500 is for auto racing. It doesn't need to do anything special to draw attention to itself.
  
  Each of those sports has other events that are equally prestigious but not as legendary. And, since those sports have no clear championship event — like a Super Bowl or a World Series — those competitions sort of fill that role (rightly or wrongly) in the public's mind.
  
  The race itself doesn't really matter. In recent years, it's been run in sloppy conditions, but the only thing that really seems to hurt attendance (but not necessarily ratings) is a poor economy.
  
  As long as the Kentucky Derby's coverage is generous with its images of mint juleps, bizarre hats and the playing of "My Old Kentucky Home," the viewers will be satisfied.


• The final jewel of the Triple Crown is the Belmont Stakes five weeks later in Elmont, N.Y. It is a grueling distance — in comparison to the first two races — and justifiably known as the "Test of the Champion."
  
  I don't think the folks who run the Belmont particularly care if a horse wins the Triple Crown. They just want the Kentucky Derby winner to win the second race — which means a Triple Crown is possible.
  
  If a different horse wins those two races, the Belmont is rendered irrelevant. That is unfortunate, but that's the way it is. The Belmont's usually a pretty nice race — visually appealing and typically competitive (well, except for that time in 1973 when Secretariat won by 31 lengths) — but it's been more than 30 years since a horse won a Triple Crown.
  
  So, in early June with other activities vying for people's time and attention — and money — all that potential viewers want to know is whether it is possible for a horse to win the Triple Crown by winning the Belmont. If the answer is no, then here's a hot tip on a sure thing — TV ratings will be way down ... and attendance at places like the beach, amusement venues, ballparks and movie theaters will be way up.


• Today, we have the second jewel of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico in Baltimore. All eyes will be on Super Saver, the winner of the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago, as Marty McGee of The Daily Racing Form observes at ESPN.com.
  
  In its way, I suppose, the Preakness is often forgotten — regarded as, at best, the legitimate albeit nondescript middle child, and, at worst, the redheaded stepchild of thoroughbred racing — but, as McGee points out, the Preakness has one thing that the Derby does not — the Derby winner.
  
  However, the Derby winner must also win the Preakness to breathe life into the Belmont, to give a purpose to its existence.
  
  Before the sun goes down, we will know if the Belmont Stakes three weeks from today will have any meaning.

Gene Menez of Sports Illustrated apparently thinks it will.

The Preakness is "setting up differently from the Derby," Menez writes, but "there is one significant similarity between the two races: The top choice is still Super Saver."

Is that due to his jockey, the aforementioned Calvin Borel, who won the Derby and the Preakness aboard two different horses last year? Well, Menez hardly mentions Borel, focusing instead on the horse's attributes. For his part, Borel, a colorful Cajun, expects a "super race" from Super Saver.

Liam Durbin of the Baltimore Sun seems to think Super Saver can make it two for two as well.

But Brad Telias of The Sporting News isn't convinced. He likes Lookin at Lucky, which is where that omen I mentioned earlier may come into play. Lookin at Lucky finished sixth in the Derby two weeks ago. "This time, there will be good karma for horse and rider, and the beaten Derby favorite will finally get his due," Telias writes.

Shades of Skip Away.

Borel Wins Again

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Vic Ziegel of the New York Daily News deserves credit for predicting the winner of a Kentucky Derby that, by most accounts, was as wide open as any Derby in recent memory.

Ziegel was modest, almost apologetic, about his picks in the past, and he practically warned the reader not to take his advice too seriously. Someone is going to win the Derby, he wrote. "Somebody I didn't pick always does."

Well, this time somebody he picked did win.

Jockey Calvin Borel won his third Kentucky Derby in the last four years aboard 8–1 shot Super Saver.

Borel rode the Derby winner last year, and he followed that up with a win on a different horse in the Preakness, the second jewel in the Triple Crown. Keep that in mind two weeks from now.

No Cure for the 'Summer' Time Blues

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We knew going into yesterday's Belmont Stakes that there would be no Triple Crown winner in horse racing this year.

But there was hope that Calvin Borel would accomplish an unprecedented Triple Crown for a jockey — winning all three races but not on the same horse. As it turned out, though, that didn't happen, either.

Aboard Mine That Bird, the horse he rode to victory in the Kentucky Derby five weeks earlier, Borel finished third in yesterday's Belmont to the horse that is being called the "other Bird," Summer Bird.

The jockey who rode Summer Bird to victory yesterday, Kent Desormeaux, should know how Borel feels. He came up short of Triple Crowns aboard Real Quiet in 1998 and Big Brown last year, losing the Belmont both times.

The 1½–mile Belmont is known as the "Test of the Champion," and for good reason. The first two races in the Triple Crown — the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes — are shorter distances. The Belmont is longer than most 3–year–old horses are accustomed to, creating all sorts of problems for jockeys.

The Belmont has been known to do this to horses in the past. Last year, Big Brown was merely the latest in a parade of disappointments.

But it seems appropriate that the final jewel in the Triple Crown should present challenges that the first two do not.

Because overcoming the obstacles makes winning the Triple Crown a greater achievement.

Desormeaux has known the disappointment of coming up short in the Belmont. And now, so has Borel.

In Pursuit of a Triple Crown

In the past, a Triple Crown in thoroughbred horse racing has referred to a horse winning all three races — the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont.

It is not possible for the same horse to win all three races this year, but it is still possible for the same jockey to win all three races, and that is what Calvin Borel will seek to do this afternoon. They're calling this unprecedented achievement the "Calvin Crown."

Borel rode Mine That Bird to victory in the May 2 Kentucky Derby, then he switched horses and rode filly Rachel Alexandra to victory in the Preakness two weeks later. Today, he's back on Mine That Bird.

Oddsmakers have established Mine That Bird as a 2–1 pick to win, but Charitable Man is a 3–1 pick and Dunkirk is 4–1. Based on the odds, Mine That Bird can expect some stiff competition today.

As Ed Gray observes in the Boston Herald, today's race represents a new challenge for Mine That Bird.

Borel and the horse will "will have to adjust to the 1–mile oval with wide sweeping turns and long stretches," Gray writes. "The pace of the Belmont is usually slower than it is in the first two legs of the Triple Crown, which may not play into the hand of a drop–back, one–run closer like Mine That Bird."

The Belmont track may be a challenge for Mine That Bird, but SI.com observes that the jockey has the confidence he needs.

" 'Like I have been telling you, he will win,' Borel said" in a Namath–like guarantee, reports SI.com. " 'Winning a Triple Crown might not be on the same horse but it'ts very good for me and my career.' "

Wallace Matthews writes, in Newsday, that the Belmont "separates the merely good from the great."

As anyone who has been looking for work in this economy knows, confidence is a significant part of the battle. We'll find out today if it can carry Borel to a "Calvin Crown" — and establish him as "great" as opposed to "merely good."

The 1½–mile track does, indeed, pose a challenge for Mine That Bird. If Borel can ride his mount to victory, it will be quite an achievement.

I hope he can do it. But my guess is that he won't. I'm thinking that Mine That Bird will finish second, just as he did three weeks ago, even though he has a talented jockey riding him.

Here are my picks in today's race:

1. Charitable Man


2. Mine That Bird


3. Chocolate Candy

You can see the race on ABC. Coverage begins at 4 p.m. (Central), but the race won't run until more than an hour later.