Change Your Luck

So Lucky finally got some luck. Maybe it was the jockey change. Maybe it was the good track conditions. Maybe he liked the longer distance, the smaller field and the tighter turns at Pimlico, but whatever it was, Lookin at Lucky prevailed in the Preakness.

Not so for Nicanor who finished a disappointing sixth in the Dixie Stakes, run one race before the Preakness. Of course, what would have been lucky, or even smart marketing, would have been for NBC to televise that race so that millions of viewers might see more than one horse race per telecast. What a concept!

Never mind the back story--we all know it concerns the older brother of one of the contestants who did not have an easy trip in the Preakness--and never mind the possibility of getting the proverbial monkey off one's back--just show the race.

Back to the race, we did see. It was a good one. Dublin breaking from the 12 post and making a bee line for the outside fence was high drama--the fact that he finished fifth was even more so--although the commentators make absolutely no mention of the incident. Ice Box can roar from last to become closing contender in the Derby and everyone has him labeled as the "one to watch." Twelfth to fifth after going a mile wide at the start--well, that makes his worthy of being watched in my book as well. Dublin is a nice horse--maybe blinkers?

As for Lookin at Lucky, well I am delighted that he redeemed himself and his connections. He truly has been anything but lucky this entire season, so he deserves the win. Just goes to show you, that sticking with the status quo is not the only way to go. As Baffert said, "We had to change something to change our luck."

Moral of the story--sometimes we make our own luck.