The Original Drosselmeyer

Do you know who Drosselmeyer is? Of course, you do. He won the Belmont on Saturday but I am talking about the original Drosselmeyer, the character in the Nutcracker for whom the horse is named? If my memory serves me correctly, he is the mysterious "uncle" who gives Clara the gift of the Nutcracker and then sweeps in to save the toy from being totally ruined by Clara's brother and his band of friends.

In the Pennsylvania ballet version, Drosselmeyer wears a sweeping black cape and eye patch and is very mysterious and a little spooky. He makes a cameo appearance during the scene when Clara first falls asleep and he wraps the clock with his cape to suggest that we are entering a world where time does not run in the traditional manner since the clock then appears to go backwards.

Anyway, my point here (aside from the fact that I clearly took my children to see the Nutcracker many, many times), is that Drosselmeyer, the horse, was the antithesis of the mysterious character in his race on Saturday. He never appeared out of nowhere--he ran a game fifth for most of the race, and he just wore down his opponents because he never stopped running. A strong, game and impressive victory for his classy trainer, Bill Mott and new jockey, Mike Smith, who demonstrated why he is one of the best.

In many ways, racing could have used some of the magic associated with the Nutcracker's character and it would have been exciting if Drosselmeyer closed with the intensity of an Ice Box (who never figured, most likely because of the heat and humidity), reminiscent of that sweeping cape, but we got a clean race, a somewhat plodding pace and a Triple Crown season without a breakdown on national television.

Perhaps that's as good as it is going to get without a superstar. After all the Nutcracker ballet is always great entertainment but with Baryshnikov, it is magical theater.