When a "speed horse" gets out of the gate and gets near the top in a fairly fast amount of time, that horse is naturally harder to catch because a good percentage of the horses that were left behind are naturally slowed down by the mud. Now, when American Pharaoh came around the last turn and there seemed to be a horse closing in on him, Espinoza threw him into another gear all together. And that's pretty rare in the slop.

The long stretch at Belmont is always the litmus test for speed horses. But I'm telling you, had that race been run at Belmont today, under the same sloppy track conditions, it wouldn't have made a bit of difference. He may have won by ten lengths instead of seven.

I hate rooting for chalk. If you guys remember, last year I was rooting against California Chrome like crazy (and in the process, I "gave" Tonalist, who paid $20.40 to win, to my good buddy Cheech ). But this will be Espinoza's third shot at winning the Triple Crown. He lost at Belmont after winning the Derby and the Preakness with War Emblem and California Chrome. But Espinoza's a likeable little fella, he's been around forever, and I'll be rooting hard for him. I'll also be taking my Dad to Belmont to watch the race live .