I Am The Heavy Artillery

The Second Jewel in the Triple Crown

This Saturday in Baltimore, Maryland at Pimlico Race Course Orb will bid for the second jewel in the Triple Crown when he enters the starting gate in a field of 9 in the 138th running of the Preakness Stakes.

I like Orb and I'm sticking with him on Saturday, probably at odds of 3-5.

Aside from the Long-range Reconnaissance, below, I will use this space this week to post links to interesting columns that pertain to Orb, the Preakness or the Triple Crown in general. Feel free to check back here, periodically, through Friday as I may add links without any further notice.

First, the masterful Steve Haskin's Blood-Horse column on the history of the Preakness Stakes, or should I say the Dinner Party Stakes?

Preakness Befits its Namesake

Second, an insightful perspective from ESPN's Gary West into why there hasn't been a Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978. I found his data and theory fascinating.

Numbers Never Lie

Stand by for further bulletins.

FRIDAY UPDATE:

If you read Steve Haskin's column, linked above, he mentioned the Codex-Genuine Risk "controversial" Preakness from 1980. Linked below is a look back at the ABC Wide World of Sports coverage. It begins with - who else? - Jim McKay. He tosses to Howard Cosell who proceeds to chew up all the oxygen, in fact I think he's still speaking. Their expert analyst was Cincinnati native and Hall of Fame jockey Eddie Arcaro (he rode Triple Crown winners Whirlaway and Citation). You'll see an interview with the late great actor Jack Klugman who was the owner of 1980 Preakness entrant Jaklin Klugman, and a winners' circle interview with a young - nearly unrecognizable to modern fans - D. Wayne Lukas, Hall of Fame trainer of Codex.

Genuine Risk was a filly who won the 1980 Kentucky Derby. She went off the 2-1 favorite in the Preakness. She became the first filly to finish in the money in three legs of the Triple Crown.

For fans of the old school stylings of ABC's Wide World of Sports, this 48-minute video is a welcome time machine to a simpler time. By simpler, I mean yellow WWS jackets and, by modern standards, low-tech video graphics:

ABC Wide World of Sports 1980 Preakness

Long-range Reconnaissance

Below are three photos from Pimlico on Preakness Day, 1943.

The 1943 Preakness was won by Count Fleet, the son of a Kentucky Derby winner named Reign Count. Count Fleet's two-year old campaign started inauspiciously with a string of losses. And then, as so often seems to be the case with talent and/or genius, like a light switch being thrown Count Fleet suddenly developed into a power house. At Belmont Park in 1942 Count Fleet won the Champagne Stakes by six lengths and set a track record. He equaled a Pimlico track record in winning the Pimlico Futurity. Count Fleet won the Walden Stakes by 30 lengths. When 1942 ended, Count Fleet had won 10 of his 15 starts and earned Two-Year Old Horse of the Year honors.

In 1943 Count Fleet was undefeated. He won the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, he won the Kentucky Derby by 3 lengths, and the Preakness Stakes by 8 lengths. Before going on to Belmont Park for the Belmont Stakes, Count Fleet raced in and won the Withers Stakes at Aqueduct. Count Fleet then won the Belmont Stakes - and the Triple Crown - when he vanquished the field by a then-record 25 lengths (a record margin of victory that stood until Secretariat won the Belmont by 31 lengths in 1973).

Count Fleet was named Horse of the Year for 1943. He retired with a lifetime record of 16-4-1 in 21 starts.

Count Fleet sired the 1951 Kentucky Derby winner, Count Turf.

Here's a look, below, at Pimlico on Preakness Day, 1943.