2011 Triple Crown segment part 1

Every year at the Breeders Cup world championships, eyes are fixated on the Juvenile Races. Time has told that you can kinda pick the derby field from that juvenile field, and often the winner of the Breeders Cup Juvenile will become a favorite heading into the derby. This year we had a 2 year old champion, winner of the Juvenile, UNCLE MO!! I was there at the race when he won the Juvenile by a large margin, and I was certain he was something special. His confirmation was astounding in my opinion- he was a big boy with a big butt , beautiful coating, and cool temperment. He loaded in the gate well that day and I won some money on him. I honestly just liked him before I knew what he looked like based on his name. I never saw an Indian Charlie race but I had a feeling in my heart that this colt would do great things. In spring 2011 all eyes became fixed on Uncle Mo to win the derby- and he was made the early favorite as expected. He won his first prep race in an astounding manner and his second race was the dreaded Wood Memorial. The Wood Memorial has been known as bad luck- and heres why.

uncle mo winning juvenile race!

Many derby horses have come to the Wood Memorial in great shape and were favored in the memorial race to win, but shortly after these horses are scratched in the derby due to injury , sickness or other reasons.

2008- War pass ran 2nd in wood, failed to make the Kentucky derby due to an injury

In 2009, we saw a derby favorite, I want Revenge was scratched ON derby day due to a foot injury. Did he run in the Wood Memorial? Yes, and he won , coming from far behind. A horse scracthing on derby day is in fact a rare occurance, only having occured twice in derby history!
In 2011- we saw 2 horses fail to make the derby. The first horse who had to withdraw from the derby field was Tobys Corner- he was scratched due to a leg injury. Everyone knows who the second one was- Uncle Mo- GI infection.Although the wood memorial seems to be just a race for the derby, the following statistic is rather shocking- since 1977 only TWO horses have won the Wood Memorial and Derby

So lets move on to the Kentucky derby, one of Americas richest and well known races. After the WM, Uncle Mo was diagnosed with GI infection and was put on medication immediately in hopes he would eventually make it to the track on derby day. Everything seemed to be working, and on post position draw day , he was still in the race. However on Friday, day before the derby, he was scratched due to the illness. I saw some pictures of him and he looked ill, and I am glad he was scratched. I will talk about him later on...

I was fortunate to attend the 2011 derby and witness another longshot win. I picked my horses for my bets earlier in the week, and came to the race confident that Dialed in was going to win. With my ticket in hand, I decided to pick some longshots because of the 2009 derby 50-1 upset Mine that Bird. I picked Animal Kingdom, Nehro, Shackleford, and the horse Calvin Borel ( Or BORAIL) was riding. Everyone now knows that AK, won the race by 2 lengths and it was a 20-1 upset. Many people overlooked him because he had a foreign, more turf favoring pedigree , but after the race I became a huge fan. He has a beautiful confirmation, excellent miler pedigree, excellent owners and trainers who obviously love the horse. In some ways, his appearance reminded me of the great Triple Crown winner , Secretariat. Leading up the Preakness Stakes, I watched the derby over and over and over again and was confident that AK would win easy, although I had a hunch that Shackleford would challenge him . The Preakness Stakes went to Shackleford, but I was very impressed by Animal Kingdom's quick turn of foot, and speed he demonstrated on the homestretch. If it wasnt for his slow start, I believe he and Shack would have fought it until the end, with Animal Kingdom winning it by a length.

I gotta hand it to Shackleford though, look at the determination on his face. I also gotta love the clean blaze!

next segment will focus on the Belmont Stakes 2011