I’ll Have Another Has given people hope. Hope that for the first time since 1977 when Affirmed did it, he will win the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. The past 34 years have brought some close calls and in the last 15 years 7 horses have won the first two legs (The Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes) only to fail at the monstrous mile and a half at the Belmont Stakes.
I’ll Have Another is gaining a bit of a cult following. Part of this is due to his John McCrea (Lead singer of Cake) look alike trainer Doug O’Neill, and part , of course, is due to the fact that he won the first 2 legs. They have actually opened a twitter account for the horse! When asked about how the horse is handling Tweeting, O’neil said “The horse is. … He’s having a hard time with the hoofs with the keys.”
So at least they are having fun in this very stressful time. I’ll have another’s chance at immortality rests upon wether or not his jockey can pace him enough around the final turn so he has enough left in the tank for the stretch run. If I’ll Have Another can do that we know he has the closing speed and desire to win and he should.
Here are some of the tidbits from @Ill_HaveAnothers’s twitter account:
@HastingsRaces manana. My BFF @Mario_Hastings is teaching me Spanish #purplepower
Go Kings! #bringthecuptoLA and I will do my best to do the same @Mario_Hastings
We’re headed to @jimmyfallon. Hey Jimmy, coach @IamLavaMan and I would like to request two seats to hold 1,000 pounds #hookahorseup @NBCSN
I get asked alot what my barn name is, I don’t have one but when I came to the barn I didn’t have much of a tail. So they called me Chewy.
Photo courtesy of Preakness.com and Mike Kane