Racing gets good rivalry, no TC in '16

For a minute there, I felt borne back to the 1970s, when almost every time you looked up, some horse had a real shot at the Triple Crown.

Along came Secretariat, then Seattle Slew, then Affirmed -- three Triple Crown winners in six years after none for a quarter century. Spectacular Bid could have been the fourth of the decade, like Citation in 1948, but after winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness finished third in the Belmont Stakes. Trainer Bud Delp maintained that the big horse stepped on a safety pin in his stall. Maybe so, but a dubious ride from Ronnie Franklin didn't help matters.

Affirmed, the last Triple Crown winner for 37 years, stayed in the news whenever a horse paired Derby and Preakness victories, invariably to falter in the Belmont. American Pharoah gave the sport a new standard for reference winning the Triple Crown in 2015, one-upping the dual-classic winners California Chrome and I'll Have Another in the previous three years.

Along came Nyquist, whose Derby win May 7 made him 8 for 8 lifetime and an odds-on favorite in the Preakness, traditionally kind to speed horses such as himself. In prerace coverage Saturday, NBC Sports couldn't resist showing a graphic comparing American Pharoah and Nyquist before the Preakness, AP (then 5 for 6) losing his career debut and missing the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (won last year by Nyquist) because of a minor injury.

The only meaningful comparison after the race was that both horses emerged from the Preakness with one career loss.

Nyquist, like American Pharoah in the Travers Stakes last year, got his fingers too close to the fire and got burned. Breakneck fractions can prove the undoing of champions and claimers alike, and the 46.56-second opening half Nyquist set in the Preakness proved more than he could handle. Nyquist finished a tiring third, passed by Exaggerator at the top of the stretch and caught late for second by Cherry Wine.

"I can't wait to see him in a little bit, give him a big kiss and a pat on the head because he's still a winner in our book," Nyquist trainer Doug O'Neill said. "I didn't think we could get beat, to be honest with you.

"It's a bummer, of course. They're not machines. Being 8-for-8, we kept thinking that this horse is never going to lose, but they all lose ... one time or another."

Exaggerator gets marks for persistence after losing to Nyquist four times. Trainer Keith Desormeaux got a textbook ride from brother Kent, who saved ground on the backstretch when Nyquist tangled with Uncle Lino and swung Exaggerator outside for the dagger shot. In a Preakness that came up muddy, Exaggerator's winning margin of 3 1/4 lengths was decisive.

"I hope it's not only because of the muddy track," said Keith Desormeaux, whose Curlin colt won the Santa Anita Derby in the slop and closed ground on Nyquist in Kentucky on a Churchill Downs surface with standing water.

"The horse has been training phenomenally," said trainer Desormeaux. "I think there was a conscious decision on the training approach between the Derby and here. My philosophy was to take it as easy as possible because you're not going to gain any fitness in those two weeks. I did what I could to get him happy and fresh and strong. I've always said he had a great ability to recover and he showed it today."

Instead of chastising jockey Mario Gutierrez for the hot fractions, O'Neill said, "him going fast early was really my idea, thinking 'he's the best horse, take it to them.'

"If we're going to get beat, let's get beat being aggressive and not trying to get cute and get in trouble."

Horse racing will not have a Triple Crown winner in 2016 but in Exaggerator and Nyquist it has two horses of genuine quality. Their rivalry could be as spirited as that between Derby winner Unbridled and Preakness champ Summer Squall in 1990, neither winning the Belmont but Unbridled taking the Breeders' Cup Classic when reunited with Pat Day.

Some Derby veterans could rejoin the battle, the Arkansas Derby top two of Creator and Suddenbreakingnews among them, plus Arkansas-owned Dazzling Gem, the latter a solid third behind the Bob Baffert-trained American Freedom in Saturday's Sir Barton on the Preakness undercard.

Keith Desormeaux pledged to be at the Belmont Stakes "three weeks from today ... with bells on." Some casual racing fans, seeing there's no chance for a Triple Crown winner, will get off here. In puncturing Nyquist's bubble in Baltimore, Exaggerator reminded the rest of us that the racing year has some exciting days ahead.

Sports on 05/23/2016

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