Maybe I should try blowing my nose to get rid of the Globes.
"Why the third time is rarely the charm; Triple Crown test too much for horses now bred for speed" by T.D. Thornton | Globe Correspondent June 07, 2014
It has been a generation since Secretariat soared into the homestretch a stunning 31 lengths ahead of his closest challenger in the 1973 Belmont Stakes.
Four years later, Seattle Slew ignited “Slewmania” by becoming the first horse to win the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes while undefeated.
And in 1978, Affirmed’s dominance of the classics electrified the nation, his Triple Crown enhanced by the presence of legendary rival Alydar.
Now, 36 years have elapsed since any thoroughbred has scored the elusive Derby-Preakness-Belmont sweep. In Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, California Chrome will have to outrun not only 10 rivals but history, too, to win the race known as the “test of champions.”
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"How does a horse’s equipment help it race?" by Kevin Paul Dupont | Globe Staff June 04, 2014
California Chrome, his nose pointed toward possible Triple Crown glory in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, will do so with the bridge of that nose covered by an adhesive strip that retails for around $10.
The nasal strip, merely a larger version of what humans wear to prevent snoring, in recent weeks has become nothing to sneeze at, especially in an industry eager to produce a Triple Crown champ for the first time since Affirmed galloped to glory in 1978. It’s a small investment in a typical trainer’s tack room full of the conventional, time-tested equipment designed to help jockeys make their horses run better, straighter, and faster.
“We win by inches, necks, and noses,’’ noted veteran trainer Jay Bernardini, ferreting about his tack room at Suffolk Downs one morning last week to show a visitor the conventional headgear of his trade. “What people don’t realize is, an inch is thousands of dollars sometimes — and those big races, it’s millions of dollars.
“So it is the trainer’s job to try to find that extra inch.’’
The owners and trainer of California Chrome, with stellar wins at the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, can’t state with certainty that the 3-inch-wide nasal strip is essential to success or even improves performance.
Only the horse can truly say, and when the athlete is unable to talk, only results are authorized to speak. California Chrome is 6 for 6 since the horse started to use “the patch’’ on Dec. 22, after winning only twice in six previous starts.
Long before the horse’s string of victories, New York racing officials had a ban on nasal strips. But when California Chrome’s trainer, Art Sherman, found out about it, he threatened not to run in the Belmont Stakes. A day later, the ban was lifted.
“And if he wins the Triple Crown, here’s what will happen,” mused longtime jockey David Amiss. “Every horse in the country will wear one for the next 90 days. And then it will all just fade away.’’
Meanwhile, the other, more conventional headgear of the trade, utilized in the industry for nearly as long as saddle and stirrups, once again will be on display Saturday as California Chrome attempts to become the sport’s 12th Triple Crown winner....
We will find out in about two hours.
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And we're off...
California Chrome fails to win Triple Crown
No Triple Crown this year.
