Underdog and One Classy Jock

Tweet I haven't been all that kind to Garret Gomez in this blog over the past two years and I'm feeling kinda sheepish about it today. I've gave him the business when he was 0 for Del Mar early in the 2008 meet last and I piled on his non-Triple Crown winning ways before last year's Derby, with the old "can't get the monkey off his back" cliche. Now don't get me wrong, I respect the hell outta one Garret Gomez and when a Form is in my hand I always take a look at his horse as being a factor (just cuz GG is aboard). He's currently the Dan Marino/Best player never to win a major/LeBron James of horse racing, who's never won the big one.

I read his post-Preakness blog yesterday and I immediately have newfound respect for him. He handled the blog with such grace and dignity that you just have to give it to the guy. He's had his problems over the years with substance abuse and whatnot, but he manned up and didn't bash anyone over his losing the Lucky mount, he praised fellow jock Martin Garcia and spoke about how he's taken him under his wing on the west coast and showed him the way financially and emotionally. Kudos Garret Gomez. You are one of the reasons I love this sport.

His luck in the big races reared its ugly head once again when his mount Dublin went all awry at the break. Part-time comedian Blonde Champagne continued her TC coverage happened to describe his Preakness gate break this way:

"Dublin breaks from Gate 12, sees a shiny object somewhere to the right of the Atlantic Ocean, and decides to check it out."

So Gomez' last few TC races have been ruined by a 50-1 shot (PioneeroftheNile), a filly with a purpose in last year's Preak (Rachel), drawing the #1 post with the Derby post time favorite (Lucky), and a bad break in the Preak (Dublin). So the jockey who is the top three every year on Eclipse Award night has an underdog in Dublin heading into the Belmont. Dublin is a horse I've liked, whose daddy (Afleet Alex) won the Belmont going away, and will probably be an underdog as the buzz grows for Zito's Ice Box and Romans' Dude. He was in my top four (I liked his stamina pedigree) in my Derby selections and is a big strapping horse. Can he be the one that gets Gomez off the schneid? I just may be betting on it. As we found out with Peyton Manning, John Elway and Michael Jordan even, the cream usually will rise to the top.

I like the underdog status he'll most likely earn over the next few weeks....