On a sunny beautiful day in Baltimore Derby winner, Super Saver, would try and continue on his road to Triple Crown folklore that jockey Calvin Borel was predicting two weeks ago in the winners circle at Churchill Downs. Eleven would enter the gate to accept the challenge including some familiar faces like Lookin At Lucky and Jackson Bend and then there were new faces like Schoolyard Dreams and Fresh Dude. The later were shutout of the Derby because of earnings. There were some jockey changes as well triggered by Lookin At Lucky's trainer Bob Baffert who chose to replace Garret Gomez with Martin Garcia. The change was inevitable after a poor ride in The Santa Anita Derby and an unlucky trip in The Kentucky Derby. Baffert chose to mix it up and that set in motion a chain reaction as Gomez was given the mount on Dublin by trainer D. Wayne Lukas and Terry Thompson was moved to Northern Giant.

The twelve entrants were loaded into the gate and set off on the fast main track as First Dude went to the front and carved through brisk fractions of 46.47 and 1:11.22 leading Super Saver by a length as the field made its way through the far turn. Lookin At Lucky would make a five wide move staying out of trouble and moved in tandem with Caracortado as the field entered the lane. Lookin At Lucky looked like a winner mid stretch until First Dude dug in gamely inside but at the wire Lookin At Lucky would prevail by three-quarters of a length holding off the race leader First Dude and Jackson Bend who closed well for third. The victory would make Baffert look like a genius and gave Martin Garcia his first ever classic win.  Garcia was a former deli worker five years ago before someone talked him into trying the jockey profession. Baffert would say of Garcia after the race, "I've just been winning with him. He can finish. He's so young, I don't think he realized the magnitude of the race."  For the owners there was vindication on many levels as their colt proved he was better than what we saw in Kentucky, "Today was about redemption, and we got it," said Mike Pegram, who owns Lookin At Lucky along with Karl Watson and Paul Weitman.  Pegram was last seen in the Preekenss winners circle with Bob Baffert in 1998 as they campaigned Real Quiet to victory.

In the end Super Saver would just not have enough in the tank. Despite being in great position throughout its possible two weeks rest may not have been enough. Regardless of the reason for the effort or lack thereof he guarantees that we will not see a triple crown winner for the thirty second year in a row. The last horse to win the triple crown was Affirmed in 1978.  As for the days card it was great if you were on track but if you weren't you missed it unless you had HRTV. ESPN what happened? See you in New York in a few weeks for the Belmont.