Chance to make history is gone for Street Sense

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BALTIMORE — Everything was in front of Street Sense yesterday, and all of it was good — the finish line at Pimlico, a victory in the 132nd Preakness Stakes and the second step toward winning the first Triple Crown since 1978.

But jockey Calvin Borel sensed something lurking behind him and turned to check it out, failing to heed the timeless warning from the old pitcher, Satchel Paige: “Don’t look back. Something might be gaining.”

As Street Sense, the 6-5 post-time favorite, thundered down the stretch and Borel stole a glance over his right shoulder, something was gaining, all right. It was Curlin on the outside with Robby Albarado aboard. Within seconds, Curlin pulled even and with a final push at the finish won the Preakness by the bob of his head.

“I thought he was just going to gallop [to victory],” Borel said of Street Sense. “But things happen.”

What happened was an incredible charge by Curlin, which finished third to Street Sense in the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago.

A reporter mentioned to Carl Nafzger, Street Sense’s trainer, that the epic duel to the wire was “breathtaking.” Nafzger, a former bull rider who is 65 years of age and in semi-retirement, had another word for it.

“Heartbreaking,” he said. “That’s what it was. Heartbreaking. We only needed a nose.”

But Curlin owned the winning nose.

Nafzger was sitting even with the finish line as he saw his dreams vanish by the slimmest of margins. Only a few moments earlier, his hopes soared when Street Sense — in the middle of the track and entering the stretch — overtook the speed colt Hard Spun, who had seized the lead on the backstretch.

“Everybody had to get serious right then,” Nafzger said. “You don’t get serious right then, you’re not going to catch Hard Spun. I got serious. It was a [heck of a] horse race.”

One that Borel and Nafzger and many in the record crowd of 121,263 thought Street Sense would win and become the seventh of the last 10 Kentucky Derby winners to take the Preakness.

“I thought it was all over when I got by Hard Spun turning for home,” Borel said. “[Street Sense] ran a big race. I really thought he was going to be a Triple Crown winner.”

“I said, ‘We’re home free,’ ” Nafzger said. “And then I see Curlin, and I said, ‘Oh, wait a minute.’ ”

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