About Yesterday's Preakness and the Riderless Horse

After yesterday's Preakness Stakes race at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, my main reaction was totally unexpected...and it regarded the last-place horse, Bodexpress.  At the race's beginning, Bodexpress threw off its rider John Velazquez...and most everyone around expected the horse to simply trot off to the side, slow down, and be diverted off the track.  Instead, Bodexpress decided to hang with the rest of the horses racing and stayed in the middle-back of the pack, only fading at the very end to last place.  Of course, not having a jockey's weight on top of you can help you immensely with how fast you want to go, but I think that Bodexpress was simply reverting to his horse instincts of running along with the herd.  It also became apparent to me that had this horse actually wanted to win the race, he could easily have done so...making me conclude that it's the rider's professional duty to instill that unnatural winning urge within the horse being ridden, even if it takes some cruel-looking whipping to accomplish this.  Of course, had Bodexpress managed to finish first it wouldn't have counted since there are strict weight amounts each horse must carry...

War of Will, who was interfered with at the crucial point in the Kentucky Derby by Maximum Security, causing the latter's disqualification but no redress for the former's misfortune, hugged the inner rail throughout the Preakness and pushed on through at the end to win it.  The favorite, Improbable, finished in the middle of the pack and was never a factor in the outcome...just before the race I found out that jockey Mike Smith had never ridden Improbable and was thus at a big disadvantage...especially since this horse had a reputation for getting very skittish at the starting gate (which it was once again).  Now for the Belmont Stakes, the Third Jewel in this year's already divided-up Triple Crown.  I hope War of Will runs in it, and I have a further suggestion: load up Bodexpress with the same weight the other horses have and run him without a jockey!  Probably not going to happen, though...the jockeys' union would most definitely file a grievance...