Word: clarion
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...that disaster, the winner turned out to be an obscure 30-to-1 shot named Proud Clarion, who had not managed to win a single race during his first season on the track, who had never won a major stakes race, and whose lifetime earnings totalled a paltry $14,865 -- hardly enough to keep him in oats. Not only did he win, but he won in the third fastest time in the Derby's 93-year history, after the entire pace had been set by an equally unknown horse named Barbs Delight, who finished second...
...Derby has always been a crazy race. Some winners of past Derbies, like Broker's Tip and Morvich, never won another race in their lives. Could that be Proud Clarion's fate? One famous Derby loser, Native Dancer, never lost another race. Could that be Damascus? Some of the greatest horses of all time never even raced in the Derby. Could one of those turn out to be In Reality, a likely starter tomorrow...
Lacking the answers to these questions, I am still willing to put my $2 and handicapping reputation on the line and say that Proud Clarion will not win the Preakness tomorrow. Sure, he is almost certain to go off the favorite, and favorites win 33 per cent of the races. Sure, in the 19 years since the Triple Crown was last won, ten horses have swept two of the three races. Sure, Proud Clarion withstood a sizzling pace and a sloppy track in his face to run the last quarter in an incredible 24 seconds. Sure, his is the classic...
From his record, Proud Clarion hardly belonged in the same field with the likes of Damascus, winner of the Wood Memorial and this year's 8-to-5 Derby favorite, or with Ruken (2 to 1), winner of the Santa Anita Derby, or Successor (4 to 1), last year's two-year-old champion and the biggest money winner in the field, with $445,829 in total earnings. Proud Clarion, in fact, had never even won a stakes race. As a twoyear-old, he had earned a paltry $805 finishing third in one out of three starts. This...
...Galbreath eventually signed Bobby Ussery, 32, winner of more than 3,000 races in a 16-year career and veteran of four previous Derby tries. "Let him settle into his stride before you make your move," Gentry told Ussery. It seemed like useless advice. On the first turn, Proud Clarion was buried in the pack, and Ussery's face was spattered with mud as Barbs Delight fought Damascus for the lead. In the backstretch, Ussery moved to the outside, eased in behind the leaders-and waited. Then, coming into the homestretch, said Ussery, "I hit him three or four...