On Relievers, Colts and Riders

Okay, it wasn’t a totally perfect weekend. Anyone who has spent any time at all on the Belt Parkway will know what I’m talking about. The ride out to the Hamptons took forever and there wasn’t much on the radio either. But then there was nothing but warm weather, beautiful beaches, great food and drink and even a great ride back to Jersey Sunday afternoon, on that very same Belt. It didn’t hurt that the Mets game was coming in loud and clear the entire way either. They had lost those first two games in Toronto, one in spectacular fashion if you like lots of strikeouts by the opposing pitcher. But Dillon Gee and Frank Francisco especially wouldn’t give the Jays the hat trick, so to speak, as long as we’re talking about Canada here. Now anybody who’s been living and dying with the boys in blue this springtime knows that the last few innings are gonna be rockin’ and rollin’, and not always in a good way. Relievers Francisco and Rauch had been especially bad. Bobby Parnell had actually been the best of the pen along with lefty specialist Byrdak. Yesterday though, the pattern was turned on its head. Parnell was bad but Rauch and Francisco were awesome, at least for them. I felt sure Frank would blow a 1-run lead. Geez, if only all the opponents could be former Francisco employers. Meanwhile, the Mets keep winning by a little and losing by a lot and that’s just fine with me. They’ve really only lost a few 1 or 2-run games, which is saying a lot for a team with supposedly bad relief pitching. It seems to me that, despite averages, there have been already a lot of saves and holds in that bullpen. Another great aspect of the weekend though was the Preakness. What a great race!! That splendid I’ll Have Another not only ran down Bodemeister again but this time he did it despite the fact that Bodemeister was not tiring. In fact, Bodemeister seemed to even surge a little as the colt approached on the outside. I love those possible Triple Crown years. There have been a lot of them, eleven to be exact since 1978 when Stevie Cauthen drove Affirmed past Alydar once again for the Belmont win and the Triple. Two other horses won the last two races but lost the really big one, the Derby. A little math shows that in 13 of 34 years, one really good horse was able to win 2 legs but that third leg was just too much. The other great thing about I’ll Have Another is that he has never been favored in any race despite the fact that he’s won 5 of 7 including the Santa Anita Derby, and now the Derby and Preakness. The racing establishment doesn’t like this colt (he only cost $35,000), nor do they like his connections apparently. All I hear about the trainer is bad. All I hear about the jock is bad. That alone makes me want this horse to win three Saturdays from now. Almost nobody wants this horse to win it. He’s not owned by the Mellons or powerful Arabian princes. He’s not trained by Lukas or Baffert or Stevens or anybody anyone has ever heard of. He didn’t run much as a 2-year old but did win his maiden, then finished first in a Grade 2 before finishing sixth in his first Grade 1 race but it was on a sloppy track. The finishing time of 1:55.94 was not great but not bad either, especially considering the easy fractions Bodemeister was setting. The mile time was 1:38.69, which means the final 3/16 of a mile was run in a little over 17 seconds. Consider that Secretariat’s finishing quarter in the Belmont was 25 seconds after having run the first mile and a quarter in 1:59. Sure, it might be a bad analogy as the races weren’t the same distance but it does show that this horse can really turn it on in the stretch. If you were thinking your eyes were deceiving you, if you were thinking Bodemeister had slowed down even if it didn’t appear that way, if you were thinking the jock on Bodemeister was relaxing on the lead, the fractional times tell a little different story. I’ll Have Another’s rider is Mexican and nobody had ever heard of him either. He was young, sure, he’d been riding in Canada, it’s true, but I can’t help thinking that his being Mexican added to the general consensus that this kid couldn’t get it done. The “what-ifs” before the race related to what Gutierrez would do if the fractions were slower than in the Derby, what would he do if he had to rate his mount, what would he do if he didn’t get the perfect trip he had in the Derby? All he did was answer all those questions. The fractions were slow, the leader was strong at the end, but Gutierrez had the big chestnut right there, so to speak, all the way. He once again had a pretty perfect trip but that’s no accident to my mind, especially for a horse coming out of the 9- hole. This Mexican chatterbox is young and strong and smart and hungry and seemingly humble too. He’s not likely to get full of himself. He’s not likely to get into any bad racing luck, he’s not likely to let anything affect him on his way to the wire. It’s a long way, the Belmont, a mile and a half, the longest race any American horse will ever be asked to run. Bodemeister, as of now, won’t be there. Yes, there will be other horses, fresher horses, more expensive horses with richer riders sitting on top. It says here there won’t be better horses. There won’t be better jockeys. This colt won’t tire, this colt won’t break down, this colt won’t get into trouble; this jock won’t let him.