Afleet Alex

Afleet Alex's incredible demolition of the Preakness field will always be remembered for the near disaster that occured at the top of the stretch. Other than that and the brilliant, rail-skimming ride by Jeremy Rose, there's little else worth remembering, really. This race fell apart almost as badly as the Derby did, as the winner went by the field like they were standing still and could have won by as much as he pleased had he not almost crash landed. It was almost ten lenghts back to late closing Giacomo, whose run for third I suppose is a validation of sorts for his Derby at least in that we know he's better than all the horses he'd beaten at Churchill, except one.

Noble Causeway was 18 lengths back in 6th, and no excuse Closing Argument was over 26 lengths back in 9th, ouch! Several horses, including High Fly, were not ridden out late, and it was over 41 lengths back to poor Going Wild, whose combined losing margin for his last 4 races is over 120. If he's entered in the Belmont, I'm calling the ASPCA. Sun King's rally for 4th probably qualifies him for the Belmont. But horses like High Fly, Wilko, Noble Causeway, and Greeley's Galaxy are out of excuses. This 3 yo crop is proving to be one lacking depth and desperately needs the likes of Bellamy Road and Declan's Moon to recover and return this summer.

My three selections to complete the exotics ran 1-2-3 and I was a little distressed to see that the triple paid over $800. Would have been a nice saver.