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Uncle Mo still has one more race to run before he enters the starting gate on May 7, 2011 at Churchill. Assuming all goes according to planned, he seems to have the best chance to end what is now the longest Triple Crown drought in history – a period of 33 years have now elapsed since Affirmed outdueled Alydar to win the Belmont and achieve immortality. It took 25 years after Citation’s Triple Crown until a horse named Secretariat came along in 1973 and electrified the racing world by sweeping each leg of the Triple Crown in spectacular fashion, setting track records in all three legs. Many thought that with Affirmed accomplishing the feat just one year after Seattle Slew did it, and just five years after Secretariat, the Triple Crown might not be so elusive after all. In fact when Spectacular Bid burst onto the scene in 1979, many including his trainer believed that he was a lock. In fact Bid’s trainer Buddy Delp once said “Only an act of God can stop us from winning the Triple Crown. This is the best racehorse ever to look through a bridle." But it was not meant to be. Even the mighty Spectacular Bid, destined to go down as one of the greatest horses of all time, hung in the Belmont stretch and managed only third place. In fact many horses in the past ten years seemed to be in great position to take all three jewels. Smarty Jones was so highly regarded in 2004 that the betting public sent him off at odds of 35-1 in the Belmont, only to finish second to upset winner Birdstone. Big Brown, too, won both the Derby and the Preakness, and seemed to be the one. Not only was he very powerful in the first two legs, but he seemed to have the stamina to get the mile and a half distance. Even more importantly, there did not seem to be one horse of truly high quality that could beat him. In fact, except for Big Brown himself, the field was rather mediocre, and it seemed the only thing that could beat Big Brown was Big Brown. But that is exactly what happened; he was done at the quarter pole. For whatever reason, jockey Kent Desormeaux pulled him up turning into the stretch because something didn’t seem right. So far there haven’t emerged any real superstars that seem to be near Uncle Mo’s level. One could argue that the highly talented Bob Baffert trainee The Factor comes close, but he probably has the wrong style to give Uncle Mo a lot of trouble should Baffert enter him in the Derby. Many have begun to wonder if we will ever see another Triple Crown winner again. We will, but will it be Uncle Mo? He has done no wrong yet – he is an undefeated four for four. And if he does win the $1,000,000 Resorts World New York Casino Wood Memorial S. (Grade 1) on April 9, 2011, and go on to take the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont, he will be the first horse since Seattle Slew to accomplish the feat undefeated.
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