BALTIMORE – In the most dramatic stretch run of an American racing classic since Alysheba stumbled and nearly fell but recovered to win the 1987 Kentucky Derby, little Afleet Alex went down on his nose at the quarter pole of yesterday’s Preakness Stakes in an horrendous accident and was one split second away from catastrophe.
Do you believe in miracles? Horse and jockey Jeremy Rose had no chance. They were in the dust, dead ducks. But somehow, in some miraculous way, the horse recovered his feet, the jockey stayed in the saddle – and then they roared off to win the race in a spectacle that stopped the hearts, stunned the senses and left the nation enthralled.
The pictures of Alex’s trainer, Tim Ritchey, told it all. As Ritchey saw his pet horse cannon toward the leader Scrappy T, then dive in a flurry of dust, he cried out, “Son of a bitch.”
Then he saw his game warrior pick it up, charge through horses and steam to the wire, leaving everything astern, and ecstasy flooded his face. Finally, he exclaimed, “This horse is unbelievable. It was an amazing race.”
It all happened so quickly. Getting a dream run along the rail around the turn, trailing Greeley’s Galaxy, Afleet Alex accelerated with an astounding explosive burst of speed and raced toward the leader Scrappy T.
Seeing the threat, jockey Ramon Dominguez reached for the whip and cracked Scrappy T with a left-handed wallop. The horse veered out sharply – straight into the path of the onrushing Afleet Alex.
Afleet Alex clipped Scrappy’s heels, an episode that almost always causes a horse to fall. But Alex, a marvelous athlete, shook himself up, slid his feet back under him and, like the gritty, fierce competitor that he is, he took off, as if shot from a cannon.
He simply flew past Scrappy T and sped to the wire, nearly five enlarging lengths on Scrappy T while Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo ran on for third. Here’s the incredible thought: If Afleet Alex had fallen and Scrappy T disqualified for causing the fall, Giacomo could have been moved up to the winner’s circle -which would have put him in position to aim for the Triple Crown.
Now, there is no Triple Crown for this year, but this Preakness showed that the cream finally came to the top. Afleet Alex ran a superb race to get third in the Kentucky Derby, beaten only a length at the end of one of the most fiercely run Derbies in 131 years.
Yesterday, he started at a tremendous disadvantage from gate 12. At the clubhouse turn, he was running 10th, a mile back on a track that had favored speed horses all day. But Rose, somehow, got him over to the lightning fast rail and moved forward all through the backside.
None could have foreseen what was about to happen. Afleet Alex was in high gear, running with all his extraordinary momentum, when he was stopped dead by Scrappy T’s sudden lunge into his path.
When a horse is stopped cold like that, it is usually the end of them, even if they don’t fall. But not Afleet Alex. He just brushed himself – and took off.
Said Rose, “Clipping heels is a huge thing in horse racing, one of the worst things that can happen. I thought I was going down. I was scared. It is the closest I have ever gone without falling.”
Rose said he thought Scrappy T ducked out because he had never been hit left-handed with the whip. “It was not Ramon Dominguez’s fault,” he said, completely exonerating his fellow jockey of any bad intent.
Said Dominguez, “It completely caught me off guard. I’m just happy Jeremy and me did not come off.”
Ritchey said Afleet Alex would definitely go to New York for the Belmont Stakes in three weeks if he comes out of the Preakness in good shape. “I think he’ll get the mile-and-a-half Belmont,” said Ritchey. “I’ve said all along that he will go any distance.”
But then no horse went into the Preakness with the foundation of Afleet Alex. Ritchey sends him out twice a day for long jogs and gallops, as much as five miles a day. Other horsemen wondered about the regimen, but Ritchey insisted it suited his horse just fine. Yesterday, it showed.
Giacomo, almost a betting castoff at 6-1, ran an honest race, coming from 11th to get third, although beaten by nearly 10 lengths. He’s a nice horse but no champ.
Not much can be said for the others. High Fly, second choice at 5-1, was never in it, dribbling home 10th. Closing Argument, fourth choice at 7-1, was flat as a pancake. Greeley’s Galaxy was taken back, moved menacingly around the turn, but Afleet Alex then ran by him as if he was anchored.
Noble Causeway almost lost touch with the field, but ran on for sixth. Wilko was a total bust, beating only two home. Sun King improved on his Derby debacle to get fourth. High Limit, fitted with blinkers, held on much the best of the speed horses to get fifth.
Little Jeremy Rose had the last say. “Afleet Alex is unbelievable, an amazing horse and I think today he put all the doubters to shame.”
He did that and more.