The Preakness broadcast this year included an update on Alex’s Lemonade Stand, 10 years after it intertwined with one of racing’s biggest days by having its stands set up at Pimlico. while the colt whose name was a common link to the young girl who started it all, ran on to Preakness glory after nearly falling to the dirt.  It was an improbable turn of events, and showed how dreams can be still be realized out of what seems like defeat.

Afleet Alex came from somewhat modest beginnings, and Alex’s Lemonade Stand was also begun simply.  The Preakness broadcast this year recapped how founder Alex Scott hoped to raise $1 million through her lemonade stands, a goal realized shortly before pediatric cancer claimed her life.  Today the lemonade stands have raised over $100 million, all to help fight pediatric cancer, and Afleet Alex is a stallion at Gainesway, having sent a few colts to the Triple Crown trail.  While his standout Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Texas Red was unable to get to the Derby, and likely wouldn’t have been a match for American Pharoah, he did have Materiality in the race.  Materiality’s impact was minimal, as well, but he did rank in Steve Haskin’s Derby Dozen.

So Afleet Alex’s name still ripples through Preakness lore even as his colts didn’t have the hoped-for impact on the Triple Crown trail, yet, but he’s shown he can get a horse that can compete at the top, even if the story right now is fittingly all American Pharoah.

And why not?  He made his Preakness victory look effortless, with his ears pricked and as he romped even with the deluge that poured down shortly before the race began and quickly turned the track to slop.

He’s clearly in another class among his fellow three-year-olds.  Time will tell if he’s in another class among Thoroughbreds, period.  He reminds me a little of the feeling I had watching Fusaichi Pegasus win his Wood Memorial, his final Derby prep.  I just had every feeling he would win the Derby after that, and though I saw potential in Carpe Diem and so many of the other very talented three-year-olds in the Derby field this year, I just couldn’t shake the feeling American Pharoah probably had the measure of all of them.  And when I heard he’d already excelled in the slop, the messy track conditions for the Preakness weren’t much of a concern, and Espinoza wisely changed tactics and kept the colt near the front.  It made all the difference, and the race was theirs, by a wide margin.  Every time I hear people talk of Pharoah’s floating action, it reminds me too of how Barbaro was said to run in a similar way, like everything was easy for him.

The Belmont, as we all know, is the tallest obstacle for its distance and demands of a third top effort against top horses in a five-week span.  But racing is built on dreams.  More Triple Crown dreams have been ended than won in the Belmont, but a horse like American Pharoah is enough to make you cautiously optimistic. Whatever happens remains to be seen, but he’s given us and his connections a good run, regardless of the outcome on June 6th.

One other Preakness recollection that came to mind the day he won was of Rachel Alexandra’s Preakness win, as the golden petals from the blanket of black-eyed susans clung to her dark coat like jewels on a mantle after the winners’ circle ceremony.  I was at  her Preakness, the only one I’ve ever attended, and that image is one of the most enduring from that day.  Like American Pharoah, she won the Preakness in a year when it fell on my birthday.

I had to work the day of the Preakness, so I postponed my birthday celebration for the next day.  After working part of the morning at a horse farm where I recently started working, I went to Old Friends to visit Silver Charm.  I saw him in March on a cold rainy day and in December not long after he arrived, but I had yet to feed him carrots and I looked forward to the chance to know his personality a little better.

I had seen him ago at Three Chimneys, when I first visited Kentucky, and he was understandably very territorial about his fence line.  That had been my only glimpse of his personality before.

Silver Charm now holds court where the fiery Creator once did.  He is wise, matured, and I felt a tug of connection as he was a total gentleman taking carrots from my hand.

Silver Charm

We were told by the tour guide that he is still a stallion and not inclined to accept pats on the nose, as most stallions aren’t, since it is a sign of dominance to them.  Yet I have to admit, that just that once, I found it hard to resist not trying to pat him because I felt that tug of connection towards him, this horse I have liked since his own romp through 2/3 of the Triple Crown, his Dubai World Cup victory, and beyond to now when we stand face to face over another fence line in Kentucky.  He tolerated the nose pat, today at least, and I loved the chance to get to know his personality even more than I had that day at Three Chimneys.  It does mean more and is easier now that he is retired from stud duty and available for visits instead of stud duty.

We also saw Game on Dude, who has such a kind eye, and Porfidio wanting attention. It had been a beautiful day to spend with horses.

Sarava

Game on Dude

Porfidio