As June 7 draws ever nearer, Triple Crown anticipation and discussions are reaching a fever pitch. Only 11 horses have won the Triple Crown of thoroughbred horse racing in the United States, claiming the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and Belmont the same year. And of those winners and losers of the past, many think California Chrome has one of the best chances since the Triple Crown was last won in 1978, but we have heard this story before. In 2008 Big Brown looked like a solid candidate to win at Belmont, but fell apart down the stretch. More recently, in 2012 I’ll Have Another appeared to be headed to Triple Crown immortality as well, just to be pulled a day before the Belmont Stakes and retired. Can California Chrome do what 12 horses have not been able to since 1978? Let’s look a little closer.

California Chrome is better than even money to win the Preakness Stakes this weekend, and the legendary Calvin Borel is once again riding a filly in the second leg of the US Triple Crown of thoroughbred racing. We also have a female trainer and a female jockey in this year’s Run for the Black-Eyed Susans, and a handful of talented thoroughbreds with middle-of-the-road odds. Nearly half of the field is showing Las Vegas odds on a Preakness win of 20 to 1 or higher, but if you remember the Kentucky Derby, last-minute add and longshot Commanding Curve paid off handsomely for his second place finish, and almost won the race outright.

3 up, 3 down may sound like the result of one inning of major league baseball with a great pitcher, but we are referring of course to the 140th Kentucky Derby. It seems like this time of year there are one or two three-year-old thoroughbreds which look like locks to make a run for the Triple Crown, only to have injuries or head scratching poor performances remove them from that designation, if not the race altogether. But this year we have no fewer than six major names moving up and down the Kentucky Derby odds board. And the smart equestrian gambler need only look back to 2006 (Barbaro at 6 to 1) and 2011 (Animal Kingdom at 21 to 1) for some relevant Kentucky Derby betting information. Barbaro won easily as a favorite, and Animal Kingdom had a moderately easy time in victory as well. However, both horses were running very strong heading into the first leg of the United States thoroughbred horse racing Triple Crown, which often proves enough for victory. Heating up are Intense Holiday, Candy Boy and Medal Count. Cooling off at the wrong time are Wildcat Red, Vicker’s in Trouble and We Miss Artie.

Wow. It has been a very busy week on the thoroughbred horse racing scene. With the Belmont Stakes, the most difficult and final leg of horse racing’s hallowed Triple Crown, going June 9, a late piece of sad news scratches the favorite. There evidently will not be an end to the 34 year Triple Crown drought, as favorite I’ll Have Another pulled out of not just this race, but of racing altogether. The 144th edition of the Belmont Stakes is losing a huge draw in the thoroughbred that has already won both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness this year, and thoroughbred racing is losing an exciting horse.

An absolute unknown underdog in the Kentucky Derby and piloted by the relatively unknown 25 year old jockey Mario Gutierrez, I’ll Have Another waited until the last few hundred yards of the Run for the Roses before overtaking Bob Baffert’s Bodemeister in the shadow of the storied Twin Spires at Churchill Downs. Then, in an absolutely unexpected turn of events, the three-year-old thoroughbred trained by Doug O’Neill and owned by J. Paul Reddam employed the identical strategy to win the 137th running of the Preakness Stakes.