Super Saver has no free ride to Triple Crown
On Saturday, jockey Calvin Borel sealed his future invitation to Racing’s Hall of Fame by winning his third Kentucky Derby in four years. Borel’s brilliance in the last four Derbys is beyond historic.
Borel has won with Super Saver, Mine That Bird (2009) and Street Sense (2007) and finished third on Denis of Cork (2008). While Street Sense (9-2) was favored, Super Saver (8-1), Mine That Bird (50-1) and Denis of Cork (27-1) outran their odds.
In a roughly run Derby, Borel did a masterful job of placing his horse on the rail, saving ground and staying out of trouble.
According to the Daily Racing Form chart, at least 15 of 20 horses got into trouble. Some more than once.
Combine these 15 troubled trips with the slow Derby final time of 2:04.45, and a full field of 14 is expected to take on Super Saver in the Preakness on May 15. While the sport needs the boost that comes when a horse is going for the Triple Crown, Super Saver will have his work cut out.
Borel said on national TV that Super Saver will win the Triple Crown. Trainer Todd Pletcher grimaced over that one. The fact the last Triple Crown champion was Affirmed in 1978 proves the high degree of difficulty.
In fact, if Super Saver wins the Preakness in eight days, I predict another large field also will show up in New York for the Belmont Stakes. And therein lies the beauty of horse racing.
As much as the sport covets another Triple Crown champion, there are no free rides. Just ask Big Brown, Smarty Jones, Funny Cide, War Emblem, Charismatic, Real Quiet and Silver Charm, who, since 1997, lost in the Belmont after winning the Derby and Preakness.
Borel won the Preakness last year on Rachel Alexandra, so he’ll have a good game plan with Super Saver this year.
And finally, kudos to Pletcher for hiring Borel to ride this colt. I suspect Borel’s services for the next Derby will be a lot harder to come by.
■ NIELSEN RATINGS — This year’s Derby was seen by 16.5 million viewers on NBC, making it the most watched Run for the Roses in 21 years, according to the A.C. Nielsen Company. Las Vegas ranked 21st nationally, well ahead of top-five markets New York and Chicago, proving once again the high interest in horse racing in this city.
Still, I consider the ranking misleading because thousands of fans in Las Vegas race books were not counted as viewers.
Richard Eng’s horse racing column is published Friday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He can be reached at rich_eng@hotmail.com.