Yesterday brought an even better race from Funny Cide. A victory, pulling away, by almost ten lengths. Impressive.

As sweet a race as it was, I kind of think of the Preakness as the red-headed step-child of the Triple Crown - the Kentucky Derby is the creme de la creme, and the Belmont offers the chance to be the spoiler. The Preakness is "Triple Crown Light" and many of the expensive, well-bred also-rans from the Derby were given the race off to rest up for the Belmont.

The ultimate Belmont win is considered by many to be not only the finest horse race finish ever, but one of the greatest moments in sports history. It was 30 years ago and the horse was Secretariat. Only five horses in the race, and for a while it looked liked Sham was going to give him a run for the money all the way through the backstretch.

Then Secretariat began to open up a lead on the field. At the wire, he was 31 lengths ahead of the next closest horse. In the mile-and-a-half race, he won by a sixteenth of a mile. I love the photo taken by Bob Coglianese of the stretch run, with jockey Ron Turcotte turning to look over his shoulder as Secretariat thunders home.