T, Yes. The stumble could have cost him the race, but it didn't cause him to finish that far behind. And he had a mile and a half to make up the stumble. He was also boxed in during a part of the race where he likes to make his run, but when he did see daylight, and Espinosa stepped on the gas, he had a brief turbo blast and then faded. Pro athletes have off days and WE had his yesterday.
It wasn't the mile and a half, either. Had he been in contention at a mile and a quarter, I might have thought that. But he was well beaten before the last quarter.
What few have noted is that none of the prime time Triple Crown horses did well at The Belmont. Magic Weisner got a lagging 4th place. Private Citizen barely got a payday in 5th. Perfect Drift beat one horse. Medaglia, which I wouldn't have entered after his previous Triple Crown disasters, got second. A horse who didn't have the winnings to qualify for the Derby won the race.
What is great about the Triple Crown is that they are 3 very different tracks. For a horse to win all 3, he has to be very special. I think WE is special. But perhaps not that special. Though even Secretariat was beaten (once in The Wood Memorial, right before the Derby), so you never know. The very special also has to hit on the right races. |
