Tonalist Spoils California Chrome’s Triple Crown Bid [UPDATE]: Video Added

2014 Belmont Stakes winner Tonalist. Photo via Getty Images. 2014 Belmont Stakes winner Tonalist. Photo via Getty Images.

Hearts are breaking all over the world today as yet another Triple Crown hopeful succumbed to the demands of a five week campaign trail culminating on the Belmont Park track today. Instead, it was a horse who had a big win over a muddy Belmont Park track in the Peter Pan Stakes a month ago and skipped the first two classic races that got his nose on the wire first: Tonalist. Commissioner and Medal Count were second and third, respectively.

California Chrome ended in a dead heat with Wicked Strong for fourth place after taking the final turn wide into the stretch. Jockey Victor Espinoza kept a good position throughout the race and made a good move in the turn, but it looked like Chrome simply ran out of gas coming out of the turn.

I am still waiting for my pulse to come down after being on pins and needles for the last hour, and the disappointment has begun to set in. It’s not often that we see a horse that is primed to take the coveted third jewel of the Triple Crown, and it is heartbreaking to see it lost. That said, we cannot discredit a thing that this wonderful and inspiring horse and his connections have done. They have brought a country together to support a cause that proves that you don’t have to have millions in the bank or royal bloodlines to succeed. If that is not our motto as eventers, I don’t know what is.

Congratulations are in order for Tonalist and his connections. Jockey Joel Rosario was hesitant to celebrate too much in his first post-race interview, as he knows more than anyone how bittersweet of a victory this is.

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One of California Chrome’s owners, Steve Coburn, had some strong words to say in his post-race interview. He pointed to the track and spoke to Tonalist’s connections as he called the win “a coward’s way out.” “I will never see another Triple Crown winner in my life because of the way they do this. It isn’t fair to these horses who have been in it from day one,” he said. Tonalist did not race in either the Kentucky Derby or the Preakness Stakes, so was one of the most fresh horses in the field.

In the meantime, we will continue to wait for a Triple Crown winner and we will return to life as we know it while waiting for the next superstar to sweep us off of our feet.

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