Summer in Dunkirk is Mine

So a son of Birdstone won the Belmont.....

Just not the one everyone thought that would win. I like Summer Bird and was happy for him to win. Congrats to his owners and trainer who celebrated his 35th birthday yesterday. And it was redempion for his jockey Kent Desermoux who until today I considered "The Choke King of Belmont" (He lost two Triple Crown's on Real Quiet and Big Brown), I gotta give some love to Dunkirk, he showed that he was worth the millions that Coolmore spent, and it ended up being an okay day for them as they where 2nd and 3rd in the Epsom Derby, plus a win in the Woody Stephens with Munnings. Mine That Bird just ran out of gas, did Calvin Borel screw up? Most likely, but the Triple Crown was created to be difficult.

So while there was no "Calvin Crown", there was a "Cajun Crown", as Kent like Calvin is a native of Lousiana. Also Birdstone has 2 Classic winners in his first crop is amazing. And a little bit of love for Darley's new bread and butter Medaglia d'Oro as Gabby's Golden Gal upset Justwhistledixie in the Acorn. However, she did have little bit of heat stroke, but should be okay. Those two are going to be awesome sires in the upcoming years.

Now for some disapointments: Californian horses showed that other then the runner up finish in the Derby, look like that they are still just synthtic specialists. Chartiable Man got nothing, but hype and he didn't proform. I understand that he may have been interfered with, still fourth in this case is not good. Miner's Claim I thought was the better of the two Zito trainees and he was last, so yeah the Tesio is not a good prep for those who want to go to the Preakness or Belmont. The other disapointment was what was Mike Smith thinking? All he could do on Madeo was fourth? He could have at least a 3rd place finish on Mine.

Now that the Triple Crown is over, we look forward to the rest of the year. The big question will be where there be a TC in Canada, Eye of the Lepord looks like he might be it. Can Sea the Stars become the first TC in England since Nijnsky II? He won the second leg yesterday in the Epsom Derby, although is highly unlikely for the St. Ledger which is the final leg.

What to expect the rest of the year from Thoroughbred Chat? Well I'll be talking alot about some minor stakes races including the Susan's Girl and G3 Obeah which comes up in a few weeks. Don't forget next Saturday I'll have live chat starting at 3pm. Since it will be Stephen Foster Day, it will most likely be going for at least 2 hours, maybe more, maybe less. Also I've scrapped my major pedigree project for looking for relatives of TC winners. Instead I'm working on a spreadsheet of one of my favorite horses who ran 2 years ago, Hard Spun! I'll have a link to the spreadsheet ASAP.