Before We Forget...

Yes, I know that the big news of the day is the draw for all the Breeders' Cup races. I will comment quickly that I didn't think much of the draw Quality Road got in the Classic. He will likely load first and have to wait in the gate while the remainder of the field will load. If you remember last year's Classic, Quality Road freaked out during his load and had to be scratched. Hopefully, he will be better behaved this year, but that wait in the gate might prove costly.

Anyway, on to the news I meant to discuss before everyone gets too hysterical over the Breeders' Cup (and believe me, I am already searching for oxygen having to wait three more days), Super Saver has been retired. The 2010 Kentucky Derby winner, trained by Todd Pletcher, has been retired to stud at WinStar Farm. He joins 2009 winner Mine That Bird as a Derby winner unable to win another race following his triumph in the Run For The Roses. While Mine That Bird will go in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile this weekend, Super Saver is getting ready to pass along his genes to a new generation.

Super Saver finished eighth in the Preakness and fourth in the Haskell following his Derby triumph. Clearly, he was not the same horse in those two starts that he was in the Derby. Was it the injury that forced him to retire or was Super Saver just a fluke winner of the Derby because of the wet track that day that prevented him from returning to the Winner's Circle? Was Mine That Bird or Super Saver a bigger fluke winner of the Derby? I will say that Mine That Bird did run well following his Derby score, he just hasn't returned to the Winner's Circle and he might never. We know for a fact that Super Saver never will. We are left to wonder whether or not Super Saver would even be a Derby winner if it hadn't rained like the Amazon Rainforest over Kentucky on the First Saturday in May. Who knows? What we do know is that Super Saver has moved on, and like Rachel Alexandra before him this year, we will wait to see if he can pass along his ability to his progeny.

Tune in tomorrow for more from They Are Off. For right now, I am Gone... GOODBYE!

Photo courtesy of DRF.com