FanHouse Calvin Borel

NEW YORK -- The other Cajun jockey, the one who didn't follow Paris Hilton on Letterman's couch, the one who spent the week heeding Belmont's killer track rather than offering bold guarantees, wasn't about to holler, "Told you so."

Kent Desormeaux had said Calvin Borel was naïve of the circumstances -- meaning he had no real experience with how Belmont's mile-and-a-half oval tended to be racing's Bermuda Triangle -- and when Borel promised that his mount, Mine That Bird, would win the third leg of the Triple Crown and spin Borel into racing history, well, Desormeaux noted that Borel might want to keep those things to himself.

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NEW YORK (AP) -- This was a Belmont for the Birds.

It was Summer Bird, not Mine That Bird and jockey Calvin Borel, who came roaring down the long stretch and won the final jewel of the Triple Crown on Saturday.

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In a thrilling finish, a Bird won the 2009 Belmont Stakes, but it wasn't Mine That Bird.

Jockey Calvin Borel's historic bid to sweep the Triple Crown with two different horses was derailed, as Summer Bird upstaged the Kentucky Derby champ in the "Test of the Champion." Kent Desormeaux, the Hall of Fame jockey who was denied a victory at the 2008 Belmont Stakes, finds redemption in the end.

The complete order of finish is below:

Suddenly, I'm into horse racing.

I find myself wondering how many cowboy hats Bennie "Chip" Woolley owns, and whether Mr. Ed was faster than Trigger. This all came out of nowhere, just like Mine That Bird during the Kentucky Derby.

Get the picture? I'm sure you do.

BALTIMORE -- When it was all over and the fantastic filly Rachel Alexandra did what everyone thought she'd do and won the Preakness, a gaggle of us hemmed in rider Mike Smith of Jockeys' TV show fame, as well as horse racing Hall of Fame fame, and asked him about the winner of the Triple Crown's middle jewel. After all, no other jockey had ever seen the undefeated Miss Alexandra's rear end as close as Smith, who wound up just a length behind at the wire.

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If you've paid close attention to Calvin Borel, like Tuesday night when he was a guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, you've probably noticed that he doesn't have many teeth. America's favorite jockey has lost most of them over the years from falls, or from his face slamming into the back of horses' necks, or from erosion caused by stomach acid after purposely regurgitating countless meals to keep his weight around 110 pounds.

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