Sport of Kings

Goodbye 2005 , We Won't Miss You

This past year was a year of great promise, and disappointment. Azeri, the best filly ever, yes I said it ever, was retired. It should have been a sign to us all, the year would be one to forget. Declan's Moon, considered the horse to beat in Lousiville, never made it there, in fact he never made it out of March, who knows when we will see him again.
Rockport Harbor brought dreams of back to back Derby's for John Servis to a screeching halt when he ran up the track in his Derby tuneup - the Lexington. But what an odd Derby it would be.
The field for the Derby was so bad, that on the first Saturday in May people believed Wilko, 3/14 lifetime, and winner of the cursed B.C. Juvenile could win (no Juvy winner has ever won the Derby). Oh yes of course there was Bellamy Road, the most over-hyped horse since Arazi. He won the Wood Memorial by 17 lengths, so what? When did Cigar ever win by 10? When did Secretariat? Oh yea , in the Belmont by 31, when he had already won everything else. The worst Derby Favorite since Holy Bull. Yep you remember that grey monster, right? A need the lead or I'm done kinda guy. Five steps into the Derby, DONE! But Holy Bull had a vested interest in this Derby, he sired Giacamo. But surely Giacamo had no chance he was 1/7 lifetime - so what? It was clear to anyone with eyes, the horse to beat in Louisville was Afleet Alex, and in the end thats who Giacamo beat. Im glad for Mike Smith, finally getting a Derby, he too has won everything else, but I still don't know how he got that horse home. But Mike, the horse you had to beat in the Derby, whooped you in Baltimore and New York, and in Baltimore Afleet Alex fell down and his nose hit the dirt and he won drawing away. His Belmot win of 10 lengths was awesome, and he ran a faster final quarter then Secretariat. Alex why couldn't you win the Derby? I still haven't seen a Triple Crown Winner, and this year I doubt it will happen, but you never know.
Ghostzapper returns...and retires! He wins the Met Mile liek the beast he is and just like that he's gone. Roses in May, retires. Afleet ALex retires. What the hell? In June, NBC gave up the Belmont starting in 2007. So now we have the Derby and Preakness on NBC and the Belmont on ABC - nice job! Then NBC lost the Breeders Cup, the home for the first 22 runnings. Because of this fact, promotion was horrible. It was in New York, and nobody besides the die hard horseman knew it! The event was so sad that the highlight was an unbeaten 3 year old...sprinter, who never beat anybody. Guess how he fared...7th! The Classic was a joke, possibly the worst field ever. The grand culmination of the year 2005 at the Breeders Cup was fitting. It was in a word, horrific. Thank god for 2006!

posted by Darin @ 11:32 PM