Is Barbaro the next Smarty Jones?
In the 2 of the 3 last years, a Philadelphia area horse has been victorious at the Kentucky Derby. Two years ago, Smarty Jones won the Derby and then the Preakness but fell short of the Triple Crown when he couldn’t win the Belmont Stakes. This year, Barbaro took home the win in Kentucky and is considered to be a Philly horse even though he has much less roots to the city than Smarty. Barbaro was born in Kentucky and had his first race in Delaware and now lives in Maryland so his Philadelphia association isn’t exactly totally there. Barbaro’s owner gave up with a great response when asked if Barbaro has even ever been to the great state of Pennsylvania
“Maybe on the Turnpike,” she said.
Oh well, we can still claim he is ours.
Barbaro won the Kentucky Derby by 6.5 lengths in a dominant victory and he seems poised to have a good chance at winning the Triple Crown. His next obstacle is the Preakness which takes place in Maryland at the Pimlico Race Course. As for Barbaro’s chances at the 2nd race, I think he stands a very good chance to win his second in a row. I believe this is the type of course that Barbaro can succeed at since it’s of a similar length to the Kentucky Derby course. It’s short enough that he can get in all his long strides and give his best performance. and its actually a shorter course than the Kentucky Derby. Length of the course is a very underrated and important factor when it comes to horse racing, here is a breakdown of the length of the 3 courses.
Kentucky Derby - 1.25 miles
Preakness Stakes - 1.1875 miles
Belmont Stakes - 1.5 miles
The last race that Barbaro would have to win in order to capture the Triple Crown is the Belmont Stakes. This is where we get to the important question of whether it is even good for Barbaro to be the next Smarty Jones? It’s very easy to say of course it is since Smarty Jones won 2 out of the 3 races, but remember the disappointment the whole city felt when we all thought Smarty was gonna bring home the Triple Crown only to finish 2nd at the Belmont. Unfortunately, my belief is that Barbaro is going to go down a similar road. There is a big reason that no horse has won all 3 races and the Triple Crown in over 25 years, and that is the variation in course length. It’s hard for a single horse to win at all 3 courses when each course suits a different type of horse. My guess is that Barbaro will finish 3rd at the Belmont and fall short of winning the Triple Crown. I can only hope I’m wrong because I still believe Barbaro is a special horse. Maybe Barbaro could turn the tide of the Philadelphia sports and get rid of a possible Philly sports curse, even though he technically has no association to the City of Brotherly Love.
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Posted on May 9, 2006 by Kyle Garis | Filed Under General, Philadelphia
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