Bill's Correspondence Chess Diary

Afleet Alex won the second leg of the Triple Crown today. This was an amazing, because the horse nearly stumbled at the turn for home and another horse interfered with it. Kudos to Jockey Jeremy Rose for keeping his horse in the race.

Kentucky winner Giacomao finished 3rd. No triple crown winner again this year. There hasn't been a TC winner since 1978 when Affirmed did it.

There is other news out of Maryland concerning Pimlico Downs. The race track has serious financial problems and there are rumors the race could have to be moved.

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/sports/article.adp?id=20050521135409990012

It would be a great shame if this happens but understandable. The financial state of horse racing has been in decline for sometime. With the advent of other means of gambling, lotteries, casinos at Indian reservations just to name a few have reduced the numbers at tracks nationwide.

My father used to own harness horses and while I was young I used to spend summers with Dad watching races at Scioto Downs outside Columbus Ohio and Sportsmans Raceway in Chicago Illinois just to name two. I was proficent at reading a racing program at 10!

It was fun. Most of the horses Dad owned were not much. We did however own Fast Clip who in 1972 raced one of 10 fast times for a pacer at that time, 1 min 56 56.3 seconds in the Geers Stake in DuQuoin Illinois. Later that year Fast Clip finished second in the Little Brown Jug(The Equivalent of the Kentucky Derby for Pacers. Its raced every year in Delaware Ohio)  to Strike Out. Both horses breaking the world record for a 3 year old pacer on a half mile track. Strike Out timed in 156.3 and Fast Clip in 156.4.

The Preakness if it left Baltimore could well lose its identity. This happened with Harness racing's Hambletonian when it moved from Duquoin to the Meadowlands in the early 80's. The move to the big city was needed for financial reasons but the race lost the atmosphere it had where it had been part of a state fair.

I hope the Preakness stays at Pimlico. Time will tell.

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