If Nyquist had won the Preakness and was going for the Triple Crown in Saturday's Belmont Stakes, the race would have much more national interest.
Instead, the Kentucky Derby winner is in California, not New York, getting some much deserved rest and recuperation from a fever that took hold May 23, two days after the Preakness.
Yet, in the world of thoroughbred racing this is one of the four jewels of the sport, with the Breeders' Cup coming in behind the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont.
Exaggerator, who had lost four times to Nyquist going into that rainy Saturday in Baltimore but was an easy winner of the Preakness, is the 9-5 morning-line favorite. His victory by more than 3 lengths in the Preakness raised his career earnings to nearly $3 million.
This is almost a race of pretenders and contenders, with more closers than speed. But on the sweeping turn to the long stretch drive of Belmont, anything can happen.
Well, almost anything.
Trojan Nation (30-1) has about as much of a chance of hitting the board Saturday as Secretariat, who died in 1989. He is a maiden who qualified for the Kentucky Derby by running second in the Wood Memorial. On the first Saturday in May, he finished 16th by 26 lengths.
Forever d'Oro (30-1) and Seeking the Soul (30-1) have at least broken their maidens, but that's their only victory.
This isn't to hurt anyone's feelings -- and bettors want a full field -- but those three probably should have been looking for a nice allowance race.
Those with a shot at beating Exaggerator include four who prepped at Oaklawn Park.
Suddenbreakingnews and Creator opened at 10-1. Creator won the Arkansas Derby and then had a ton of trouble. He had to come to an almost complete stop to avoid being T-boned in the Kentucky Derby but still got banged hard. He finished 13th, but he did finish.
Suddenbreakingnews won the Southwest Stakes, was fifth in the Rebel Stakes and second in the Arkansas Derby. In Louisville, Ky., he had almost as many problems as Creator but closed almost 8 lengths in the stretch to finish fifth. Both skipped the Preakness.
Cherry Wine (8-1), the fourth-place finisher in the Rebel, nosed out Nyquist for second in the Preakness. He might have run better, but he ran into the gate at the start and that put him 24 lengths behind the leaders early in the race.
All three of those are closers.
Gettysburg, fifth in the Arkansas Derby, likes to run in front, and that makes the 30-1 shot an unorthodox horse in an orthodox field.
He most likely won't get an easy lead though as Stradivari (5-1) is a speedster, too. He's the horse someone plunged a million bucks on in the Preakness, but he was rank before the race, broke fifth and finished fourth.
Lani (20-1), the horse who shipped from Japan for the Derby and Preakness, is back. Maybe the owners and trainers just felt the race needed an oddball horse who definitely marches to the beat of his own drum.
Destin (6-1) and Brody's Cause (20-1), both sired by Giant's Causeway (by Storm Cat), have the breeding to get the distance.
The guess here is at the head of the stretch Exaggerator makes his move and right behind him comes Creator and Suddenbreakingnews. With a quarter of a mile to go in the 1½-mile marathon, Exaggerator starts to run out of gas and finishes third behind Creator and Suddenbreakingnews.
Sports on 06/09/2016