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ROAD TO THE TRIPLE CROWN JUNE 15, 2005 by James Scully AFLEET ALEX (Northern Afleet) wrapped up the Triple Crown with a rousing performance in Saturday's Belmont S. (G1), rallying past horses in an effortless manner leaving the far turn while appearing to be traveling about twice their speed and then toying with the competition through the stretch. He has towered over the three-year-old division this season with brilliant performances in the Arkansas Derby (G2), Preakness (G1) and Belmont, but his third in the Kentucky Derby (G1) sticks out like a sore thumb. That wasn't the true Afleet Alex at Churchill Downs on May 7. The Triple Crown continues to be one of the most difficult challenges in sports. Afleet Alex should've captured the Kentucky Derby before dominating the Preakness and Belmont, but we'll never know what happened in Lousiville, Kentucky. We can try to explain it, proposing that perhaps Afleet Alex bounced off a strong win in the Arkansas Derby (G2). He had never won around two turns entering the Arkansas Derby and was exiting the worst race in his career, a last-place finish in the Rebel S. (G3) due to a lung infection. After drilling four furlongs in :46 1/5 four days prior, Afleet Alex demolished the Arkansas Derby competition, finishing his final eighth of a mile in :11 3/5 while drawing off to a record-setting eight-length victory. He could not run back to this performance three weeks later. We can blame the trip. Afleet Alex was bumped entering the first turn, raced on the dead part (inside) of the track through the far turn while having to stop and start several times in the Kentucky Derby. Jockey Jeremy Rose took his mount near the back of the field in the early stages before rallying on the far turn of both the Preakness and Belmont, but Afleet Alex was spotted much closer to a wicked early pace in the Kentucky Derby, about eight lengths back of the pacesetter through the opening half-mile and within five lengths after six furlongs. He ran into fast fractions and had nothing left for the finish. Maybe it was the track, which can play funny on Derby Day. Afleet Alex has never bounced off a hard race in his career, and the well-traveled Florida-bred has taken his track with him wherever he runs. Trouble is difficult to avoid in a 20-horse field, but Afleet Alex can overcome a lot, as he showed when avoiding disaster at the top of the stretch in the Preakness. He came up flat in the final furlongs at Churchill Downs, but completed the final quarter-mile in the 1 1/2-mile Belmont in :24 2/5, the fastest final quarter since Arts and Letters in 1969. No horse has dominated the last two legs of the Triple Crown like Afleet Alex since Point Given, another tough-to-explain loser in the Kentucky Derby. The Triple Crown mystique claimed another worthwhile candidate in 2005. It doesn't make much sense that exceptional horses like Afleet Alex, Smarty Jones, Point Given and others have failed to win three straight Triple Crown races over the last 27 years, but we can't explain it. It's the Triple Crown, so we just keep waiting.
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