ELMONT, N.Y. -- As expected, Saturday's 129th Belmont Stakes was won by a Hall of Fame jockey.
Except it wasn't Gary Stevens on Triple Crown hopeful Silver Charm, it was Chris McCarron on Triple Crown spoiler Touch Gold.
Poor Silver Charm, poor Stevens, poor racing public. Well, how about poor Chris McCarron? He was elated ... until he realized that he had ruined everyone's day.
"At first, I was excited," said McCarron, "then I saw a whole lot of unhappy faces (in the crowd of 70,682) ... but I'm certainly grateful to be on the horse that upset the apple cart."
Upset the apple cart? Try nuking the whole industry.
BUT LET'S GIVE SOME CREDIT to the horse -- and jockey -- who won racing's version of the Boston Marathon for 3-year-olds. It's 1 1/2 miles, and McCarron had it figured in his head perfectly.
After helping set a not-so-torrid early pace, McCarron eased Touch Gold into fourth position and politely let Wild Rush, Silver Charm and Free House battle for the lead with one-half mile to go.
Entering the stretch, Wild Rush faded badly, and this race appeared to be a two-headed duel -- as it has been all spring -- between Silver Charm and Free House.
But McCarron steadily made up ground on the outside, craftily "hiding" on Free House's right hind quarter, then on Free House's right shoulder ... then firing at the last possible second to pass Free House and a startled Silver Charm just at the wire.
So long, Triple Crown.
McCARRON KNOWS THE FEELING ALL too well. He rode one of the previous 12 near misses (horses that won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness but lost the Belmont) before Silver Charm became unlucky No 13.
"I lost on Alysheba in 1987," McCarron recalled. "We had won the Preakness that year so easily that, as far as I was concerned, we were a mortal lock for the Belmont."
Well, the "mortal lock" finished fourth. Bet Twice played spoiler and won.
"The feeling is crushing," said McCarron, who rode the best tactical race of this year's Triple Crown series.
He added: "People ask me, 'How long did it take you to get over it?' I tell them that I don't have the answer because I'm not over it yet."
That was 10 years ago. Next year will make 20 years since Affirmed won the Triple Crown.
For the 42-year-old McCarron, this was his 10th Belmont mount and 35th Triple Crown mount overall. He now has found his way into Triple Crown winner's circle six times -- twice at each venue:
"Chris used his head today by staying away from Silver Charm," said Touch Gold trainer David Hofmans. "We didn't want to get into an eyeball-to-eyeball with Silver Charm because that horse is at its most dangerous when he's fighting (to keep the lead)."
So let's brush away the tears and give Chris McCarron some credit.
He took the fight out of Silver Charm, or certainly that part of Silver Charm's game by sneaking up and blindsiding the dark gray colt.
So before you say the "wrong" Hall of Fame jockey won Saturday's Belmont, consider this:
Silver Charm was out-slicked ... and jockey Stevens right along with him.
Ray Buck is CBS SportsLine's national columnist.
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