I'm not sure. I read his Derby as saying another quarter mile was well within him. No one can look at that race and say: "I don't think he'll get another quarter." However I saw a chink in War Emblem's armor during the Preakness. When that goofey horse tried to sprint off with the race, I really thought War Emblem should have rated another length or two off and made his move after sticking close, allowing the front runner to burn some energy and saving some ground. He couldn't do it. He had to run up there with him and burn wide and in the end Magic Weisner might win that thing if it goes another half mark. So I guess the question is if some horse bent on the lead runs six panels in 1:11:1 can War Emblem rate off five lengths and still have the late energy he showed in the Derby? I'm not sure yet.

But win or lose the Triple Crown, I'm absolutely astounded by the War Emblem story. War Emblem had come to life at the time he was sold. His allowance win was breathtaking and the way he dominated Repent in the Illinois Derby was amazing. That third place horse (Fonz's) may not be Triple Crown material but he was good enough to beat Officer when Siphonic was running well. Fonz's was 7 lengths clear of the fourth place horse. As soon as I saw the results of the Illinois Derby I began salivating. But in all this what I can't understand is Russell Reineman (sic?) selling this animal for 800K. He'd just won 300K for crying out loud. It sounds like the worlds greatest fire sale gone horribly wrong. Someone help me but isn't he the former owner of Banshee Breeze? They gotta know horses. Russell's trainer (Frank Springer) said subsequently there was no way he'd run War Emblem in the Derby if he had continued to train him. Well I understand that War Emblem has an ankle. Specifically reported as a "bone chip". Skip Away had something similar is my understanding. Anyway, Baffert is using some quote "very expensive" medication to treat it. I don't mean to imply anything by that, those are merely Baffert's words. But the bottom line...Is War Emblem a Skip Away type horse or is he a horse with some real problems? All I know is Bob Baffert saw talent in this horse, bought him for a relative song after an amazingly impressive race and Russell Reineman is behaving like a kid that traded a Sammy Sosa baseball card for a Babe Ruth original. Win or lose, its a great story.