No Need to Tie Derby Post Positions to Horses’ Earnings

For the third consecutive year, a 3-year-old will head to the Belmont Stakes with a chance to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978.

Even though Charismatic followed up his shocker in the Kentucky Derby, at 31-1, with a decisive upset in the Preakness, at 8-1, there are still doubters.

Some would have relished seeing Silverbulletday take on the males in the Derby and Preakness, believing she is the best 3-year-old in the country.

Seconds after Charismatic edged Menifee at Churchill Downs, in fact, one observer in the Hollywood Park press box said she would have won. Considering that the time of the Derby, 2:03 1/5, was the slowest on a fast track since Cannonade won in 2:04 25 years ago, that opinion probably was shared by many.

Of course, it was speculative folly.

Who knows what would have happened to Silverbulletday in the logjam at the clubhouse turn? Like many others, Silverbulletday might have lost her best chance before half a mile had been run.

Then, she skipped the Preakness when she drew the outside post in a field of 14, trainer Bob Baffert choosing the sure thing against inferior fillies in the Black-Eyed Susan.

Had she run in the Preakness--and one can only wonder what post would have been deemed satisfactory for her to start--Silverbulletday might have had to overcome some adversity to succeed. A perfect trip isn’t guaranteed, no matter where a horse lands in the starting gate. Post position, for the most part, is an overrated handicapping factor.

The decision not to run Silverbulletday in the Preakness led to nonsense about how post positions in important races should be determined by earnings, so, supposedly, the best horses get the best posts.

So what are the best posts? Charismatic left from the 16-hole and Menifee had Post 18 in the Derby and they finished 1-2. Think those are the spots Wayne Lukas, Charismatic’s trainer, and Elliott Walden, Menifee’s, would have picked?

Grindstone won the Derby from Post 15 in 1996, Thunder Gulch from 16 the year before that and the trifecta in 1995 was completed by Tejano Run from Post 14 and Timber Country from Post 15.

The argument about post positions followed hard on the heels of the outcry about the size of the Derby field and how it should be reduced from 20 to 14. Funny, nothing was said about that last year, when Real Quiet won from a field of 15.

The Derby field should never be limited, beyond the restrictions of the starting gates. The possibility of an oversized field makes the Derby unique and, as any serious racing fan knows, traffic problems aren’t restricted to big fields. Plenty of thoroughbreds have been compromised by bad trips in races with only five or six starters.

Those who want to limit the Derby field and let the “best” horses choose their post positions probably would like it too if only certain trainers were allowed to run horses in the Triple Crown and if those horses were given a head start.

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Some other observations on the first two legs of the Triple Crown:

* Silverbulletday is indeed a special filly, but what has she really proved this year?

Owner Mike Pegram’s filly has humbled her rivals in the Davona Dale and Fair Grounds Oaks in Louisiana, the Ashland at Keeneland, the Kentucky Oaks and last Friday’s Black-Eyed Susan, but wouldn’t Excellent Meeting and Three Ring, the other top 3-year-old fillies in the country, have done the same had they run against those opponents?

* Although Silverbulletday’s presence would have spiced up the Preakness, the race was compelling without her. The feeling here is that had she run, she would have been swallowed up like everyone else when Charismatic made his sweeping move to get the lead with about a quarter of a mile to run.

* Count this handicapper among those who didn’t think Charismatic could repeat his Derby upset last Saturday, mainly because of his taxing schedule. The Preakness was his fourth race at four tracks in six weeks. He obviously thrives on activity, though, and has elevated his game at the right time. The son of Summer Squall looks extremely hard to pick against on June 5 in the Belmont.

Of course, the same was said about Real Quiet last year and Victory Gallop, who’d lost to him in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, turned the tables in New York in one of the most exciting finishes in the sport’s history.

* Silver Charm did look vulnerable two years ago because Touch Gold, who wound up beating him in the Belmont, should have also won the Preakness.

* Unlike a lot of his brethren after a race is lost, Walden offered no excuses for Menifee’s finishing second again. There were no complaints about the trip, the track surface or anything else, only an admission that his colt was second best. Although he has had some tough days the last two years in the Triple Crown, Walden has handled everything with class.

* Wonder what kind of odds you could have gotten a month ago that Charismatic would win the Triple Crown?