Wise Dan, the 2012 Horse of the Year, makes his third start of the season Saturday in the Grade 2 Firecracker Handicap at Churchill Downs. He has already won two Grade 1 stakes — the Makers 46 Mile and the Turf Classic — so this should be an easier task.
Someday a public relations class will do a case study on what has been happening lately to Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert. At the center of it all are seven horses that died suddenly, while under his care, in a 16-month period.
The Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs on Saturday marks a turn-the-page moment in racing from the end of the Triple Crown. Orb, Oxbow, Palace Malice plus the other top 3-year-olds will return soon enough in the Haskell and Travers. But for now the attention will be on the older horses.
The Belmont Stakes on Saturday is anything but anticlimactic for those of us who follow horse racing. Though there is no horse going for a sweep of the Triple Crown, the Belmont is a classic race with great history to it.
