NEW YORK – Talk about a tough crowd.
Dissed by the owner of Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom one day, dismissed as the third betting choice for the Belmont Stakes another, Preakness winner Shackleford is still considered an underdog for Saturday’s final leg of the Triple Crown.
What’s trainer Dale Romans to think about his long, lanky 3-year-old colt?
“He’s not getting the respect he deserves,” Romans said Thursday at Belmont Park, where racing was canceled for the day because of temperatures approaching 100 degrees. “Let’s see what happens after the race.”
Shackleford has been getting the cold shoulder for months, having been sent off at odds of 68-1, 23-1 and 12-1 in his last three races.
“Every race he’s run in he’s been a long shot and he’s run well in every one of them,” Romans said of Shackleford’s starts since a fifth-place finish in the Fountain of Youth on Feb. 26. “And he’s improved with every race. There are very few horses that have moved forward the more work they did. A lot stay the same, but he keeps getting better.”
After Wednesday’s post position draw, when Shackleford landed the outside No. 12 gate, more doubters emerged.
“I would not have wanted to be in
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