#AndDownTheStretchTheyCome!
Very much the blue-blood thing to do, this (Baltimore, Md.) Preakness Saturday afternoon 6:45pm post-time socialite scene. And you need not be some top shelf single malt flavor of blue-blood, or that entire dressy, tony, or cosmopolitan bourgeoisie, to appreciate the most exciting 3 minutes in all of sport.
There may however be some weather in the forecast, could be a good day for mudders if this second leg of the Triple Crown track takes some water. There will be some Black Eyed Susan(s) and crab-cakes in more than one tummy come Saturday evening over in Maryland. Although who will win the 2016 Preakness Stakes, –and what kind of realistic all the time chances does the Kentucky Derby winner (Nyquist) really have here?
Overall Triple Thoughts:
If you ask me? And by reading these very words, you effectively did… if you ask me, this 2016 three-year old crop is pretty much as we said we expected it to be three weeks ago. Because what I’m seeing here is three thinner tiers of ponies this racing season. There is a effective, albeit not all-time Top-2. Namely Kentucky Derby champion Nyquist and his perennial just good enough to be runner-up Exaggerator. With Exaggerator perhaps playing the roll of all three legs of the Triple Crown runner-up who was always just good enough to get beat Alydar to the 1978 Triple Crown winning Affirmed. After that however, we see a slimmer second tier of contending horses, and an even thinner tertiary tier of prospects or long(er)-shot ponies.
Or in other words, though no fault of Nyquit’s very own, who -or how many- fellow horses will Nyquist truly have to beat? Nyquist may very well be the secondary threepeat version of da Bulls who mowed through three straight non-all-time N.b.a. Finals teams in the late 1990’s; through no fault -and mutually to no credit- of their very own.
As none of the proverbial second tier horses here (Destin, Mor Spirt, Outwork, et al) have even bothered to enter the 2016 Preakness Stakes. And the aforementioned tertiary level of ponies just does not appear to have the chops to do any more than that. I.e. merely enter the race…
Still yet, Stradivari is here and opens from the outside post position. Uncle Lino could be the sneaking speed horse off a great break and a clean finish. Collected may help the daring horse handicapper fill out their tri or super-fecta, and yet where is the credible threat power to Nyquist in the 2016 Preakness Stakes not named Exaggerator, the forecast rain/mud mix or some kind of bad start or bumpy, congested, entangled run? As this one may or may not be a two horse race, although it sure does not look like much more than a three horse race at best, to me; if that…
***
Accordingly, ergo, to wit,… if I am Nyquist’s handlers; deep deep down with my hand placed upon the horse racing Bible, …even though I know I may not have a great horse on my hands, I do feel I have a pretty fair to middling one, possibly even a pretty dang good one.
And one who does not have to beat more than two or three other ponies at maximum in this second leg of the 2016 Triple Crown. Therefore, I’ve gotta side with Nyquist until proven otherwise as he appears to be the best of a middleocore to B- caliber 2016 three-year old lot.
Preakness Pick(s):
- Nyquist to Show
- …and I’ll leave it at that until we get to the equine marathon otherwise known as the Belmont Stakes next time out, God willing..
Loading ...“LETS GO!”
“Ra-cing!”
bourbonstreet**
Nyquist all the way, even in a 2015esque deluge like AP won. Why? Ny has the Zaggerators number & is in his head. Think Looney Tunes and the silly dog that was always yapping at his hero, George. “Hey, Ny, can I follow you? Can I, please, please, please?!”
I agree that these are not the 015 3 year olds, but give Hockey Man his due as he has a “look” that seems to scare other horses. Look back at how Mohaymen got the look and ran backwards in the Florida Derby. And Mo is in your 2nd tier of this crop. Craziest thing I’ve seen in a horse race in a while.
That’s my opinion, but…I could be wrong.
The undercard, though? In mud? Time to make money.
A real quality reply Esq.
Thank you!
As to your takes… I had a hard time pegging the non-Top-2 during the Derby Spreadsheet. Spent a lotta time going back-n-forth raising and lowering my digits… and guess what?
That and fifty cents gets you one quarter of a $2 tix. And nothing else.
Because it meant nothing after the Top-2 came home perfectly 1-2, in order.
Newt likes Mo’ real well.
And he is a true Horseman. Where I am only a lowercase pony handicapper.
Dunon on that one? And I had thought Destin to be very interesting take back in February/March. Which shows how little I really do know.
As I do know that the sport of kings may not be good for your ego… though it can do wonders for your humility.
b.street