A Little Shaky in the Knees On The Preakness
I’m a nervous wreck. First of all I’m having a knee replacement surgery in a few weeks and that has me a little concerned. It’s not like they are cutting my leg off. Oh wait a minute, that’s exactly what it’s like, but they have the technology to reconnect it with a new knee joint and making me able to dance once again without having to have my wife lead me, during, and after the dance is over. That’s one of the things that is bothering me. The other thing is 139th running of the Preakness Stakes.
I’m home and out of work due to my bad knee. So I’m not preoccupied with work, or any other daily responsibility except to cook and do the dishes. The one thought that keeps going through my head is the fact that I don’t trust Social Inclusion when it comes for the run for the Black-Eyed Susans.
Think on it for a minute. Inexperience showed on Social Inclusion during the running of the Wood Memorial. I was down on the track for the race, standing 25 yards from the starting gate, I was close and along the rail and I saw a very startled horse. He was jumpy and foaming between the back legs. It was pretty clear that the decent sized crowd at Aqueduct that early April day had affected him. It was his first stakes race and it showed on the inexperienced three year old.
He went off as the 8/5 favorite but he settled for a hard run third place finish. Hey, New York is a tough place to run, but the third Saturday in May will be an even tougher race in Baltimore. You need experience to run in the big races. It also takes talent, heart and most of all guts to run. And Social Inclusion finally got a taste of the big time. He’s well rested and he could be ready to take on what is rapidly becoming America’s favorite horse in California Chrome.
With not enough points to race in the Kentucky Derby, Social Inclusion could be a spoiler in the run for a Triple Crown. With any luck, we’ll have a duel between the two speed horses of Inclusion and Chrome. I’d love to see an Alydar and Affirmed battle from these two, but maybe that’s asking for too much, since I’m already rooting for a Triple Crown.
I know there are other horses in the race. Bayern, Ride on Curlin and General A Rod will also be in the post parade. All very good and capable of winning, but not on this Preakness day, this day will belong to California Chrome, with a Social Inclusion exacta.
So, I’m nervous for a reason and I hope that Chrome can win over trouble maker Social Inclusion. And as with life, anything can happen and if it does let’s hope it’s in the horse race and not in my knee surgery. Riders up!