Is Eskendereya The Latest Push-Button Thoroughbred To Chase The Triple Crown?
Eskendereya, a grandson of 1977 Triple Crown Champion Seattle Slew, made a strong case to claim the favorite’s spot in the Kentucky Derby May 1 when he powered to victory in the April 3 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct by over nine lengths. Afterward, jockey John Velazquez said the Giant’s Causeway–Aldebaran Light, by Seattle Slew colt just needs to be held in check until it’s time to be told to blast off. Velazquez indicated Eskendereya is a push-button type.
Can Eskendereya compete for the Triple Crown title with a push-button style? His trainer, Todd Pletcher, has won just one Triple Crown race. Pletcher’s schoolee filly Rags to Riches out-nosed Curlin in the 2007 Belmont Stakes.
The Triple Crown Races
The Kentucky Derby — first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky — 1-1/4 miles
The Preakness Stakes — two weeks later at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland –1-3/16 miles
The Belmont Stakes — three weeks later at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York — 1-1/2 miles
The Belmont Takes a Toll on Push-Button Horses
Thoroughbred racing fans have seen two powerful push-button horses fade in the Belmont Stakes in the last several years. Smarty Jones (2004) and Big Brown (2008) could not beat foes to the finish wire in attempts to complete a sweep of the American Triple Crown. Smarty ran out of fuel as diminutive Birdstone, son of a Kentucky Derby winner, collared him in the last strides to the wire. Brown had no game in the Belmont after wowing his audiences in the Derby and the Preakness.
Both three-year-olds busted to insurmountable leads in the first two races.
Affirmed scored in the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes in 1978 and is the last to do so. Just ten others before him have earned the Triple Crown title.
The Triple Crown Winners
1919 — Sir Barton
1930 — Gallant Fox
1935 — Omaha (son of Gallant Fox)
1937 — War Admiral (son of Man o’ War)
1941 — Whirlaway
1943 — Count Fleet
1946 — Assault
1948 — Citation
1973 — Secretariat
1977 — Seattle Slew
1978 — Affirmed
Eskendereya Climbed the Graded Stakes List
With his Wood Memorial victory, Eskendereya won two other battles. He earned his way to the top of most Kentucky Derby favorite polls, rivaling Lookin at Lucky, and he added $450,000 to his graded stakes earnings. His bankroll has reached $600,000, well clear of the approximately $200,000 it will take to qualify for the limited Derby list of twenty entrants.
He has three victories to go to become that exceptional push-button Thoroughbred hero the industry craves.
Susan
Is Eskendereya The Latest Push-Button Thoroughbred To Chase The Triple Crown?
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