Preakness Stakes

There are a few moments in race-calling history that make the hair on my arms stand on end. They include the 1973 Belmont Stakes call of "Secretariat is moving like a tremendous machine", or the 1991 Breeders Cup Juvenile race when poor Bertrando got passed with these words, "And Arazi blew right by him!" And you can't forget the immortal words, "The unconquerable, invincible, unbeatable Cigar!"

Add to that list, "And Scrappy T blew the turn!"

On its face, it doesn't look like much. But here's what happened during the 2005 Preakness Stakes (if you haven't already seen the video, and if you haven't, look that one up online, as well as the '73 Belmont). Scrappy T took the lead over a handful of other horses coming around the far turn to the home stretch. Jockey Ramon Dominguez could see that Jeremy Rose and Afleet Alex were coming up on their outside, and urging Scrappy T on, he hit his horse with a left handed whip.

Scrappy T didn't like it. He veered outside so suddenly he cut Afleet Alex off, and Alex almost went to the ground. That's when the race caller shouted out, "And Scrappy T blew the turn!"

That collision could have been the end to Alex's life, not to mention his career. To put that into perspective, here's what watching a horse break down during a race is like. Imagine Barry Sanders getting hit helmet-to-helmet and collapsing on the field, or Ben Wallace going up for a dunk and hitting his head on the rim - perhaps concussed, perhaps paralyzed, perhaps worse. You're putting 15 thousand pounds of pressure on a horse's ankle bone during a race - and that bone is no bigger than your wrist. A lot can go wrong.

But back to the race. In that moment, when Alex scrambled to right himself, my best friend and I shrieked in panic. But Alex and Rose, the professionals always, got up, acted like nothing had happened, and won the race convincingly. They knew the near-spill wasn't anyone's fault, except maybe Scrappy T's, and you can argue he didn't know what the consequences could be. He just reacted like a temperamental racehorse. Dominguez did know the consequences, and he turned to make sure the others were okay, knowing the race was lost and despite that, everyone had been very lucky.

You can probably say that incident led to the foot injury that ended Alex's career after his win in the 2005 Belmont Stakes. Still, I'm grateful it ended how it ended for everyone involved, and I admit it's hard for me to watch the event to this day, watching Alex's knees buckle, his nose brush dirt, and Rose nearly pitching over his head.

So for this weekend, let's hope for a great Preakness, with excitement not of last year's sort, but with good racing nonetheless. Watch to see how Brother Derek and Sweetnorthernsaint handle less traffic, and how Barbaro does against them. If any one of them gets a clear unchallenged trip, watch out, but I don't think that's likely. If Barbaro is rested after his monumental Derby effort, watch for him to repeat. If he's not, and Brother Derek is feeling rested, he'll take the Black-Eyed Susans.