Reminiscent of Secretariat's 1973 Belmont Stakes win, Afleet Alex thrilled thoroughbred racing fans with his powerhouse performance in the 2005 Belmont Stakes. Firing at the quarter pole, Alex left his competitors behind, with an ever lengthening stretch of daylight. The little horse just kept going and going and going. While others faded and slipped back, Alex pounded the track with relentless strides, crossing the finish line all alone. Though his winning time was 2:28.75, almost 5 seconds slower than Secretariat's, his time for the final quarter of the race was actually a half second faster than that of the legendary thoroughbred.
"The only thing that was going to get him beat was me, so I just tried to stay out of his way and let him do his thing...." said jockey Jeremy Rose.
This run alone was impressive, but no more so than his Preakness win just 3 weeks earlier. In spite of taking a nosedive on the heels of Scrappy T who swerved in front of him, Alex overcame the stumble. After a split second of horror, the colt regained his footing and, despite losing momentum, still had enough steam to go on and put away his challengers by 4 and ¾ lengths. What a champion!
Just two weeks before, Alex went into the Kentucky Derby with 7 wins out of 9 starts, the last of which was another of his impressive runs in the Arkansas Derby. Yet at Churchill Downs, Alex finished a length off the lead, in third place to two long shots. So what happened?
"Whether I did anything wrong, I don't know," Rose said, "But he's the best 3-year-old in the country, and he should have won." After the Belmont victory, Rose seemed to blame himself for the Derby loss, "He should be a Triple Crown winner, but I messed up."
Trainer Tim Ritchey had no regrets, "Jeremy rode a great race, and the horse ran a tremendous race."
Fans had believed there was nothing that Alex couldn't overcome, but perhaps breaking from the 12th gate and running in a field of 20, he didn't get the opportunity to fire in his typical fashion. Perhaps he was just having a bad day, as we all do from time to time. Probably we'll never know.
Nevertheless, the little horse who loves peppermints and beet pulp came out of the final leg of the Triple Crown unscathed. Where other horses need a break after the grueling mile and a half race, Alex was ready to take to the track again. Ritchey claims he will continue to race as a 4 year old and plans to enter him in the upcoming Haskell, Travers, and Breeders Cup.
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