Afleet Alex remains at Belmont Park, where he won the third leg of the Triple Crown, which put the 3-year-old division in perspective and established himself as an animal with star quality and charisma.
The Preakness and Belmont winner has apparently emerged unscathed from the most rigorous five weeks he will ever endure. This is good news, not only for those directly connected to Afleet Alex, but for the rest of a season that at its midpoint holds little else in the way of intrigue.
On the morning after the Belmont, there was fresh speculation that the season might end with Ghostzapper and Afleet Alex in the Breeders' Cup Classic. Trainer Tim Ritchey entertained the possibility of a race that held the potential to develop into a 10-furlong, winner-take-all for the Horse of the Year title. Within days, however, that balloon was deflated, discarded and recycled.
The retirement of Ghostzapper, the defending Horse of the Year and champion older male, leaves a void that may remain for some time. He had a winning streak spanning three seasons. He won the Woodward, the Classic and Met Mile in his last three races, all with memorable performances. He won Grade I races from sprint distances to 10 furlongs. There was always suspicion that Ghostzapper was not the soundest of horses. He raced only 11 times, five last season at age 4, and was on a four-race schedule this year before a small fracture in an ankle prompted his untimely retirement.
Saint Liam, who last autumn took Ghostzapper to the wire before yielding in the Woodward, and Roses in May, winner of the Dubai World Cup in March, are now the leading active older males. Both are a long way from attaining the stature earned by Ghostzapper, however, and unlikely ever to occupy a similar position. Winning the Donn Handicap in Florida and the Stephen Foster in Kentucky will not vault Saint Liam to stardom. Roses in May, who won the Whitney last summer at Saratoga, has been idle since returning from Dubai, and many veterans of that race in the desert take some time to regain their best form.
After Afleet Alex's dismantling of the 3-year-old division in the Preakness and Belmont, little intrigue remains beyond the anticipated return of Wood Memorial winner Bellamy Road, who is recovering from a minor injury suffered in the Kentucky Derby. Bellamy Road, the favorite in a race won by 50-1 Giacomo, may in time prove to be the best in the division and will be a force when he returns to competition, but that may not be before fall. The sensational, undefeated Lost in the Fog, brilliant in the Riva Ridge on Belmont day, is easily the nation's best 3-year-old sprinter. He may be the best of any age, but though he is one of the more exciting horses competing, there is little glamour among sprinters.
In Ghostzapper's absence, this becomes the year of Afleet Alex; the year of the throwback, the horse who trains hard and races often, whose 2-year-old form holds up at 3, who is capable of overcoming adversity, of rising to the occasion. It is likely that we have yet to see the best of him.
