Word from Australia early in December that Kingston Rule was gone brought back a flood of great memories from my visit in January 2007. Winner of the 1990 Melbourne Cup, Kingston Rule was a son of my favorite horse, Secretariat, and I traveled to Australia with the express purpose of seeing him. A 1986 foal, he was getting up there in years but still in good health.

On a wet dreary day at Belmont Park, Ruler On Ice charged down the long stretch to win the final race of the Triple Crown, completing the “first season” for three-year-olds as yet another longshot winner in the division.

It’s a great feeling when the Kentucky Derby result, however surprising it might be, is vindicated by the Preakness two weeks later. Such was the case this year when Shackleford held off Animal Kingdom at the end of the Preakness. Both horses went off at odds greater than 20-1 in the Derby, with Animal Kingdom sweeping past the field in the stretch to win and the pace-setting Shackleford hanging tough for fourth, beaten less than a length for second.

In a year where longshots have dominated most of the Triple Crown prep races, it was no surprise that another longshot took the 137th running of America’s most famous horse race, the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands.