With Kentucky Derby winner Orb and Preakness champ Oxbow poised for a Belmont Stakes showdown on Saturday, Freedom Child is drawing attention as a potential spoiler in the last of 2013's Triple Crown races. <\/p>\n
Freedom Child didn't race in either the Derby or the Preakness. In fact, his last race saw him winning the Peter Pan Stakes by 13 1\/4 lengths at Belmont Park. <\/p>\n
\"These are the opportunities that really get us all out of bed in the morning,\" said Terry Finley, who manages the West Point Thoroughbreds partnership that owns Freedom Child. <\/p>\n
\"So as it relates to this colt, he's really given us a good vibe overall. He's a May 18th foal, and he's gotten really better and better in each start.\" <\/p>\n
Trainer Tom Albertrani made his intentions clear after Freedom Child drew the number two post in the 14-horse field for the 1 1\/2-mile race dubbed the Test of the Champion. <\/p>\n
\"I don't know if he is a horse that wants to be behind horses because he's got a free running style,\" he said. \"He'll probably want to find himself clear going into the first turn.\" <\/p>\n
Freedom Child might have ended up in the Kentucky Derby, but his Wood Memorial in April was ruined by a starting-gate incident in which he got out of the gate so slowly that stewards declared him a non-runner, with all bets on him refunded. <\/p>\n
\"Those kinds of things you just kind of shake your head and it just was a bang-bang issue,\" Finley said. \"The starter, he pressed the button just as the horse on the inside of us broke through the gate, and as a result, our assistant starter reached down and really kind of tightened up on our strap and, as a result, when we broke he was holding on for two or three strides.\" <\/p>\n
Even so, Freedom Child got to within a few lengths of the lead before tiring badly. <\/p>\n
So he failed to make the Derby field and instead won the Peter Pan on the weekend between the Derby and Preakness. <\/p>\n
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Freedom Child seeks to crash Belmont Stakes showdown<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With Kentucky Derby winner Orb and Preakness champ Oxbow poised for a Belmont Stakes showdown on Saturday, Freedom Child is drawing attention as a potential spoiler in the last of 2013's Triple Crown races. Continue reading