Forgive the man whose writing appears to the right of mine.
His apparent lack of understanding of horse racing tradition and its feats has left McCallin'-It-Like-I-See-It on the wrong side of this argument.
Should Calvin Borel go ahead and win the Belmont Stakes (assuming Rachel Alexandra even runs in the third leg of the Triple Crown), it would be impressive and seal his bid &ndash if it's not already a done deal &ndash for the National Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame. Borel would earn all the acclaim he will receive.
But there is still a problem with recognizing it as equivalent to the old-fashioned Triple Crown (aka same jockey, same horse, Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes).
See, the three legs of the Triple Crown are each a different length.
The Derby is a mile-and-a-quarter.
The Preakness is a mile-and-three-sixteenths.
The Belmont is a mile-and-a-half.
It may not seem like much of a variation, but in horse racing such differences absolutely mean the difference between winning and falling short.
Exhibit A was Saturday's Preakness Stakes when Borel aboard Rachel Alexandra beat out 50-to-1 Derby winner Mine That Bird by a single length.
Perhaps if the Preakness is a sixteenth-of-a-mile longer (and thereby making it equal to the Derby), we're talking about Mine That Bird winning the first two legs of the Triple Crown.
Throughout history, 45 horses have won two of the three Triple Crown legs. Only 21 have sealed the deal, and it hasn't been done since Affirmed in 1978.
In the 31 years since then, 11 horses have won the Derby and Preakness before falling short in the Belmont.
Now there's even a chance Borel will ride a different mount in the Belmont if Rachel Alexandra isn't healthy enough for the June 6 race.
So if he ends up winning the Derby with the horse best suited for that distance, followed by the Preakness by a horse better off at the shorter distance, and then mounts a horse conditioned for the long Belmont … that is more impressive than one horse/jockey tandem winning it all?
No way Mike.
