Horse racing fans will have to wait at least one more year to see a Triple Crown winner. On Saturday, Oxbow won the Preakness Stakes, as the prohibitive favorite, and Kentucky Derby winner, Orb, finished in a distant fourth place. Oxbow was a 15-1 bet to win the race, while Orb went off at 3-5 odds. There has not been a Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978.
50 year old Gary Stevens rode Oxbow to a wire to wire victory, after returning to horse racing this year, after a 7 year retirement This was Stevens 3rd Preakness win, to go along with 3 Kentucky Derby wins, and 3 Belmont States wins.
Trainer D. Wayne Lukas won his record 14th Triple Crown race, and 6th Preakness. Lukas, who is 77 years old, broke a tie for most Triple Crown wins with “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons. He still trails Robert Wyndham Walden by one, for the most Preakness wins by a trainer. Surprisingly, this was Lukas’ first win in a Triple Crown race since the 2000 Belmont Stakes. Back in 1988, Lukas teamed up with Stevens to win the Kentucky Derby on Winning colors. That was Stevens’ first Triple crown win.
It was strange to watch Orb show so little effort in this race. With a much bigger field in the Kentucky Derby, he took the long way around the outside, and passed most of the field in the last 1/4 mile to win. He moved up from 6th to 4th at the end of this race, but never had a shot at catching the front-running group of Itsmyluckyday, who finished 2nd, or Mylute who finished 3rd, let alone race-winner Oxbow. It wasn’t like the race was run in record time. The 1 3/16 mile was run in 1:57.54, which is a slow pace. Orb ended his 5 race winning streak in disappointing fashion.
Although 117,203 people showed up at Pimlico for the Preakness, the horse racing world could really use a Triple crown winner soon. The air is let out of the balloon, when different horses win the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. There is no suspense left for the Belmont Stakes, except for the friends and family of the owners, trainers, and jockeys involved in that final race. There’s always next year. Maybe we will finally get that Triple Crown winner in 2014.
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