Winners ascend from obscurity

Of all the post-Triple Crown wrapup stories, the one I like best is seeing where the three classic race winners came from. Each spring, one typically looks to 3-year-olds who were stabled in California, New York and Florida, and from the big-name trainers.

Not this spring.

Kentucky Derby long-shot winner Mine That Bird spent his 2-year-old season at Woodbine in Canada and this spring at Sunland Park in New Mexico. His New Mexico-based trainer, Chip Woolley, came out of obscurity to win the Derby.

Preakness victor Rachel Alexandra was based at Churchill Downs as a 2-year-old and at Oaklawn Park this spring. Even though she won the Preakness for new owner Jess Jackson and trainer Steve Asmussen, former trainer Hal Wiggins did all the heavy lifting. Wiggins has trained for more than 40 years, but few outside of Kentucky knew of him.

Tim Ice, in his first season as a head trainer, sent out Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird, which was unraced as a 2-year-old and stabled this spring at Oaklawn in Arkansas.

This points to at least two things. There are a lot of good trainers who can win if given an opportunity with a quality racehorse. And the three winners were stabled mainly at tracks that offer slot machines: Oaklawn, Sunland and Woodbine.

Is the power of slot-enhanced purses attracting better horses? It might be a trend that soon could become an avalanche.

• BELMONT RATINGS — Las Vegas again proved how strong a horse racing market it is. According to Sports Business Daily, Nielsen ratings in Las Vegas for the Belmont ranked 10th nationally, ahead of top-10 markets such as Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia.

• NETWORK DEAL — The Paulick Report noted that the Triple Crown TV packages with NBC (Kentucky Derby, Preakness) and ABC (Belmont) expire after the 2010 races. Prior to 2006, the Triple Crown was televised on one network, which is the best way to maximize its benefit to horse racing.

The New York Racing Association sold the Belmont to ABC in 2006 because of a rift with Churchill Downs. The revenues were split 50 percent to Churchill and 25 percent each to Pimlico and NYRA.

But when a Triple Crown is on the line, the Belmont ratings exceed those of the Derby and Preakness. NYRA asked for an adjustment in those special years and was rejected.

• TWIN QUINELLA — The Lucky’s Triple Crown Twin Q jackpot was not hit on Belmont Stakes day. A carry-over of $11,413 will be offered Saturday on races 9 and 10 at Hollywood Park.

Richard Eng’s horse racing column is published Friday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He can be reached at rich_eng@hotmail.com.