My Train of Thought

ALL ABOARD!

ARE WE OVERDUE FOR ANOTHER TRIPLE CROWN WINNER?

Not everyone is impressed with beautiful equines.  Some could care less about seeing horses running around a circle while millions make money off the steeds all trying to come in first.  As for me, I am not and never have been a betting person.  I just love to watch horses run, jump, and perform flawlessly what would seem to be impossible moves in dressage.   While I may watch the Sport of Kings, my interest is the heart, courage, and tenacity of these splendid thoroughbreds.

This year I was especially intrigued with a beautiful red horse with a huge blaze on his face.  This brought back memories of "Big Red", the beloved Secretariat.  California Chrome at first glance had the most unusual blaze until I found out that he wears a nasal strip above his snout.  

After watching reruns of this horse's Run For the Roses, I saw how he bumped the side of his starting gate which almost made him trip.  He still managed to run a decent race, despite the fact that the pace was rather slow and managed to pull off a win.

It was the Preakness race that really caught my attention.  I loved the way Victor Espinoza managed to keep him in a respectable fourth position and then let it rip down the backstretch.  I had also hoped that Ride On Curlin would do well as he was a son of the great horse, Curlin, who lost to Rags to Riches in the Belmont.

It was the pedigree for California Chrome that also impressed me.  On his Daddy's side, some of the familiar names in horse racing's elite like A.P. Indy, the 1992 Horse of the Year who retired from stud as of 2011.  Then there's Seattle Slew, the 1977 Triple Crown Winner, Champion Three Year Old and the, only undefeated Triple Crowner.  He died at the age of 29.  Chrome's pedigree also includes the great Secretariat, the 1973 Triple Crown Winner who set track records in all three races which I believe still stand.  Secretariat was sired by Bold Ruler, one of the most famous stallions.  California Chrome also has impressive credentials on his mommy's side as well.  Northern Dancer, who won the first two legs of the Triple Crown races, was honored as the champion three year old.  He was the first horse to be inducted into the Canada Sports Hall of Fame.  Danzig, Nashua, and Buckpasser were also notables in this pedigree. 

Like so many of his ancestors, Chrome is a horse that seems to have heart.  This horse really looks like he likes to run.  In the Preakness, it was almost as though he was saying, "Not today.  This is MY day.  My race to win."  And so he did.

We have been waiting - some rather impatiently, and others bracing for another disappointment - for another Champion Horse to win all three jewels of the ever elusive Triple Crown races.  Will California Chrome be the next one to join that elite group of athletes that includes his great granddads??

As the song says..."And California Dreamin' is becoming a reality"