Kentucky Derby winner, Street Sense, was chosen as the overwhelming 3-5 favorite on Wednesday for Saturday’s $1 million Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. Street Sense recently won the Jim Dandy Stakes here last month.

Jim Dandy was the colt’s first since he was beaten by Curlin in the Preakness Stakes. The 3-year-old did not run in the Belmont Stakes, the final jewel of the Triple Crown.

Trained by Carl Nafzger, Street Sense will be ridden by Calvin Borel and leave from post position #4 in the field of seven that will cover 1 1/4 miles on Saturday.

Street Sense is attempting to become the 10th horse to win the Derby and Travers. Thunder Gulch was the last to accomplish the feat in 1995.

$1 Million Travers Stakes Race Entries, Jockeys, and Odds:

PP. Horse, Weight, Jockey, Odds
1. Helsinki (KY), 126, Julien Leparoux, 20-1
2. CP West (KY), 126, Cornelio Velasquez, 5-1
3. For You Reppo (KY), 126, Garrett Gomez, 20-1
4. Street Sense (KY), 126, Calvin Borel, 3-5
5. Grasshopper (KY), 126, Robby Albarado, 8-1
6. Loose Leaf (KY), 126, Kent Desormeaux, 21-1
7. Sightseeing (KY), Edgar Prado, 6-1

Tags: Travers Stakes, Street Sense, Travers Stakes Odds, Travers Stakes winner

A Column by Steve Davidowitz on Bodog
July 18, 2007

Aside from the high caliber of horse racing we are set to experience at Del Mar in Southern California and at Saratoga in upstate New York, it is difficult to remain silent about the most important issue plaguing racing on these shores.

I am talking specifically about performance enhancing and pain reducing drugs administered for racing purposes.

Consider this fact: Every horse racing jurisdiction in Canada and the United States permits the use of powerful drugs, such as the diuretic furosemide (Lasix) and the analgesic phenylbutazone (Bute), when no other country in the world permits similar drugs for racing purposes.

Unfortunately, American drug testing, while quite comprehensive in some states, is under-financed in too many jurisdictions.

Meanwhile, veterinarians who work with racehorses on the backstretch are given far too many liberties in prescribing and applying “medications” (read that as d-r-u-g-s). Some of these drugs go way beyond helping racehorses recover from aches, pains and temporary maladies. Some, in fact, screen pain and tacitly encourage trainers to run their horses with minor ailments, while their pain-warning systems are shut down or severely muted.

Moreover, the drug problem in American horse racing is not just limited to masking minor aches and pains. The problem is quite similar, in fact, to the performance enhancing issues faced by other professional sports all over the world - from American baseball to international cycling to Olympic track and field.

There are corticosteroids and equine growth hormones; there are marginally known performance enhancing substances; and, as we learned from the case that is building against trainer Patrick Biancone, there may be dreaded snake venom thrown into the mix.

While I am not a vet, or horse trainer, or racing official, I have been watching and betting on horses for more than 40 years and do believe there are some practical steps that racing officials could take to severely curtail drug abuse in the American game. Here specifically is one horseplayer's considered suggestion that attempts to deal with the realities at hand and incorporates several practical components.

• Every racetrack should have a refrigerated, state controlled commissary stocked with the major therapeutic medications for each registered, practicing track vet. The key to this idea would be to bar all vets from bringing any medications from outside the racetrack into the restricted barn area.
• All medications, in fact, should be dispensed at the commissary under state supervision directly to registered track vets before they begin their rounds of the horses under their care each morning.
• At the end of their rounds, all medications that have not been dispensed should be returned to the commissary. Failure to do so would result in fines and suspensions for the offending vets.
• To deal quickly with unusual illnesses and injuries, the commissary would also have a state supervised emergency truck filled with the most exotic medications needed to treat emergency issues as needed.
• Beyond this approach to dispensing drugs for therapeutic purposes, the penalties for violations must be more severe in every case. No longer should an assistant trainer be given the reins to the horses under a suspended trainer's license. No longer should the racing industry tolerate repeat offenders, even if they are national leaders such as Steve Asmussen or Todd Pletcher or any of the other headline makers.

Although the vast majority of trainers work with talented, honest vets, even the hard working, extremely honest trainers such as Michael Dickenson have trouble dealing with the practices in vogue today. Speaking candidly in a public forum last March, Dickenson admitted that he uses steroids on his horses to stay competitive in a game where others are taking such liberties.

The only way to change that, Dickenson said, “is to strictly control access.” That is precisely the rationale behind my proposal, but even with support from trainers such as this two-time Breeders' Cup winner and others, there is no evidence that American racing officials in any state have the fortitude to press for the reforms this issue deserves. Your comments are welcome.

Steve's private, weighted rankings of the top American horses, three years old and up, males and females

Curlin catches Street Sense in last jump to win Preakness Stakes

By JAY PRIVMAN DRF

Michael J. Marten/Horsephotos

Curlin

BALTIMORE - Inexperience may have betrayed Curlin when he suffered the first loss of his career with a third-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, but the experience gleaned from that race paid off two weeks later when he rallied boldly in the stretch to catch Derby winner Street Sense and capture the 132nd Preakness Stakes on Saturday at Pimlico.

Curlin ($8.80), the second choice, stumbled slightly at the start, settled near the back of the pack, and was passed by Street Sense as the field came around the far turn and into the stretch. But he resolutely kept to his task and wore down Street Sense in the final yards to win by a head.

Hard Spun, the Derby runner-up, was another four lengths back in third. C P West was fourth and was followed, in order, by Circular Quay, King of the Roxy, Mint Slewlep, Xchanger, and Flying First Class.

Curlin completed 1 3/16 miles, the shortest of the Triple Crown races, in 1:53.46 on a track rated fast despite rain showers that fell sporadically, beginning a little more than an hour before the start of the race. His time is the equivalent of the Preakness record, 1:53 2/5, shared by Tank’s Prospect (1985) and Louis Quatorze (1996), when the race was timed in fifths of a second instead of hundredths.

Curlin earned $600,000 from a total purse of $1 million.

Robby Albarado, who rode Curlin, bounced back to compete after being thrown from Einstein during an accident in the Dixie Handicap earlier on the card. He scored his first victory in a Triple Crown race, as did Curlin’s trainer, Steve Asmussen.

2007 Preakness Stakes Winners, Results and Payouts
Pimlico Race Course, Baltimore, Maryland

Off: 6:18 | 1 3/16 Miles | 3 Year Olds | Purse: $1,000,000

#	Horse		Jockey		Weight		Win	Place	Show
4	Curlin		Albarado R J	126		8.80	3.80	2.80
8	Street Sense	Borel C H	126			3.00	2.40
7	Hard Spun	Pino M G	126				  3.00

Times in 5ths: :224 :453 1:094 1:343 1:532

Times in 100ths: :22.83 :45.75 1:09.80 1:34.68 1:53.46

Also ran: C P West, Circular Quay, King of the Roxy, Mint Slewlep, Xchanger and Flying First Class

Winning Trainer: Asmussen Steven M - Owner: Stonestreet Stables, Padua Stables, Bolton, George and Midnight Cry Stables

$2 Pick 3 (12-9-4) 3 Correct Paid $349.20 Pick 3 Pool $430,670

$2 Pick 4 (1/4/6-12-9-4) 4 Correct Paid $440.20 Pick 4 Pool $1,544,672

$1 Pick 6 (2/5/8/10-2/4-1-4-6/12-9-4) 6 Correct Paid $789.50 Pick 6 Pool $417,501

$1 Pick 6 (2/5/8/10-2/4-1/4/6-12-9-4) 5 Correct Paid $15.20 Pick 6 Pool

$2 Daily Double (9-4) Paid $42.20 Daily Double Pool $474,101

$2 Daily Double (B.E.SUSAN-PREAKNESS 2-4) Paid $34.80 Daily Double Pool $586,774

$2 Exacta (4-8) Paid $23.20

$1 Superfecta (4-8-7-9) Paid $340.30

$2 Trifecta (4-8-7) Paid $50.00

Steve Asmussen said he would consider the 2007 Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park for Curlin. The final leg of the Triple Crown is the 2007 Belmont Stakes on June 9 in New York. Carl Nafzger, the trainer of Street Sense, said he would not go on to the Belmont Stakes.

tags: Preakness Stakes, Preakness Stakes winner, Preakness Stakes result, Curlin