This week's journey alongside Holy Bull led me through Jimmy Croll's decisions not to enter him in either the Preakness or the Belmont. Obviously, this annoyed the dickens out of Triple Crown purists, especially when the Bull bypassed the Belmont after demolishing older males (including four Grade 1 winners) in the Metropolitan Handicap.
Whether the Bull could have won the Belmont, I don't know. His entry would certainly have changed the complexion of the race, as Go for Gin and Tabasco Cat went 1-2 around the Belmont oval, exchanging their positions in the final quarter-mile. Would either of them have pressed Holy Bull through the early pace, probably a suicidal task that would have set things up for whoever stayed out of the duel? Precedent had certainly been set that a gifted miler could see out the mile and a half if allowed to cruise unmolested---Conquistador Cielo had done just that in 1982 after blowing away the Met Mile just six days earlier, so it's entirely possible that if no one engaged Holy Bull, he could have run off with the race at a distance that he did not "really" stay.
We'll never know what might have been. Croll chose not to risk "squeezing the lemon dry," to borrow from fellow Hall of Fame trainer Horatio Luro's dictum, and the result was a colt who went undefeated through four more races during the season and was ready to go again at 4 before injury cut his brilliant career short. It's hard to argue with that kind of success, even if it meant traveling a road less taken.
Whether the Bull could have won the Belmont, I don't know. His entry would certainly have changed the complexion of the race, as Go for Gin and Tabasco Cat went 1-2 around the Belmont oval, exchanging their positions in the final quarter-mile. Would either of them have pressed Holy Bull through the early pace, probably a suicidal task that would have set things up for whoever stayed out of the duel? Precedent had certainly been set that a gifted miler could see out the mile and a half if allowed to cruise unmolested---Conquistador Cielo had done just that in 1982 after blowing away the Met Mile just six days earlier, so it's entirely possible that if no one engaged Holy Bull, he could have run off with the race at a distance that he did not "really" stay.
We'll never know what might have been. Croll chose not to risk "squeezing the lemon dry," to borrow from fellow Hall of Fame trainer Horatio Luro's dictum, and the result was a colt who went undefeated through four more races during the season and was ready to go again at 4 before injury cut his brilliant career short. It's hard to argue with that kind of success, even if it meant traveling a road less taken.