I've been enjoying everyone else's thoughts on the Belmont and I thought I'd weigh in with my own highly-unimpressive take. Hell, it beats studying for the bar. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the horse player I was pre-law school when I firmly believed my opinions were among the best out there, at least until I went to the track and had them shattered on a daily basis. Now, I rarely need to wait for the actual race to realize my opinion is probably wrong. Nevertheless, here goes.

The first thought I have is really more about Lion Heart than SJ. LH reminds me so much of Peace Rules. And just like PR, SJ didn't so much put him away in the Preakness as LH either just collapsed or suffered a physical injury (there may have been news on this, but I missed it if there was). But, overall, LH was always just a sprinter/miler with a big heart. He has been showing all year he didn't want to go 2 turns and the Derby (at least in retrospect) seems to have been more about the tracks surface and his heart than his stamina. So, given that LH was SJ's main competition in the Preakness, the fact that he was a stretched-out sprinter who pulled a Sham-style collapse takes something away from the big margin of victory. JB gave him another big top, and I trust his figs, but I still am not sure that the Preakness was quite as impressive as it seemed.

Now that I have compared LH to PR, it seems only fair that I say that SJ is obviously not Funny Cide, nor is Purge Empire Maker. Most importantly, unlike that idiotic ride Santos gave FC in the Preakness, Elliot really seemed to wrap up SJ the final 16th and Servis has resisted the temptation to blow SJ out in 46 or whatever brilliant move Barclay did last year. So, SJ deserves to be the overwhelming favorite. Hell, I can't possibly imagine any of these challengers beating him on their best day. But unlike all the experts whose opinion I respect more than my own, I just have this vision in my head. I just can see SJ hitting the top of the stretch with the lead when he starts staggering and some nobody horse (Eddington???) comes galloping up alongside him and nails him late. Maybe its just the product of having been on this planet 26 years now and not having seen a 3crown winner since I was all of about 5 months old, but I just see the 1 1/2 getting to him. Yes, I know that everyone will say he has proved his pedigree didn't matter the way he won the first two legs but we all know the Derby was a seriously speed favoring track, and the Preakness, well, it just reminds me of Favorite Trick's BC Juvenile (when Grand Slam had the back of his leg ripped off) when it looked FT would run all day long. I think people are being a little cavalier about this stretchout -- I mean, it is a friggin' 1/4 mile longer than he has ever run before. Horses who look like they won't stop at a mile sure can stop in a hurry at 1 1/4 (see Favorite Trick, etc.).

Anyway, if you actually read through all that thanks for putting up with my ramblings. I hope Smarty proves me wrong, the sport could sure use it, but I still belive Silver Charm was a better horse and if he couldn't get it done...