Next Triple Crown winner: horse racing or baseball?
John Guzowski
Issue date: 4/27/04 Section: Sports
- Page 1 of 3 next >
Horse racing is a sport that isn't usually talked about much by the majority of the population, though there is a cult group that loyally shows up at the local racetrack on a daily basis (usually unemployed and wearing the same clothes as the day before).
However, the Triple Crown of horse racing sparks national interest during the late part of spring every year. The big three races -- the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes -- provide some horse racing excitement for a few short weeks, and each year there is the possibility of a horse winning all three races and capturing the most coveted of racing prizes - the Triple Crown.
Winning all three races is not as easy as you might think. Though there have been 11 Triple Crown winners in the history of the sport, the last pony to do it was Affirmed in 1978, when the Bee Gee's "Stayin' Alive" topped the singles charts. The big tease of horse racing is that 19 horses have won the first two legs of the crown and then failed to cross the line first in the Belmont.
Not to mention this has happened five of the last seven years. Last year the horse's saddle that the American public jumped on was Funny Cide, who easily won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. But the Triple Crown favorite going into the Derby, Empire Maker, spoiled Funny Cide's chances in the Belmont, playing the Omarosa to his Kwame if you will.
Every year the mismatched comparison of horse racing and baseball is made because the national pastime also has a Triple Crown -- finishing first in the league in home runs, batting average and runs batted in all in the same season.
The jewel of baseball has been accomplished only 16 times since the game's birth, the last one by Carl Yastrzemski in 1967. Though Yaz's stats that year (44 HRs, .326 average, 121 RBI) would have fallen a bit short of last year's leaders in those categories, they were good enough for him to win the most elusive prize in baseball aside from a World Series ring.
However, the Triple Crown of horse racing sparks national interest during the late part of spring every year. The big three races -- the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes -- provide some horse racing excitement for a few short weeks, and each year there is the possibility of a horse winning all three races and capturing the most coveted of racing prizes - the Triple Crown.
Winning all three races is not as easy as you might think. Though there have been 11 Triple Crown winners in the history of the sport, the last pony to do it was Affirmed in 1978, when the Bee Gee's "Stayin' Alive" topped the singles charts. The big tease of horse racing is that 19 horses have won the first two legs of the crown and then failed to cross the line first in the Belmont.
Not to mention this has happened five of the last seven years. Last year the horse's saddle that the American public jumped on was Funny Cide, who easily won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. But the Triple Crown favorite going into the Derby, Empire Maker, spoiled Funny Cide's chances in the Belmont, playing the Omarosa to his Kwame if you will.
Every year the mismatched comparison of horse racing and baseball is made because the national pastime also has a Triple Crown -- finishing first in the league in home runs, batting average and runs batted in all in the same season.
The jewel of baseball has been accomplished only 16 times since the game's birth, the last one by Carl Yastrzemski in 1967. Though Yaz's stats that year (44 HRs, .326 average, 121 RBI) would have fallen a bit short of last year's leaders in those categories, they were good enough for him to win the most elusive prize in baseball aside from a World Series ring.