LOUISVILLE, Ky. - This has been an outstanding year for Hard Spun. A resounding victory in the Lane’s End Stakes at Turfway Park marked him as a major contender for the Kentucky Derby, in which he ran a huge race to finish second. And after running third the Preakness, fourth in the Belmont, and second in the Haskell, the colt returned last month to win the first Grade 1 race of his career, the Aug. 25 King’s Bishop Stakes at Saratoga.

But even in winning the King’s Bishop, Hard Spun was relegated to the shadows of his nemesis: Street Sense, who later that day at Saratoga captured the more prestigious Travers Stakes. Months before, it had been Street Sense who surged past Hard Spun to take away the Derby, and it was Street Sense who finished ahead of Hard Spun in the Preakness, narrowly losing a dramatic duel with Curlin. (via Hard Spun News)