Maybe Old Fashioned Is Too Old Fashioned

There's a lot to like about Old Fashioned, the precocious son of Unbridled's Song who won the Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct under a hand ride. He gives the impression of mental maturity, a confident and endearing intensity. He was all business. And unlike some of the promising California contenders, he won on dirt. (The trainers who don't intend to run their best three year olds over the dirt en route to the Kentucky Derby are nuts.)

It's hard not to root for his trainer, Larry Jones, or for this colt in his own right. It's always moving to see the innocence of a young three year old absorbed in his race, before it becomes a J-O-B (compare, for instance, Curlin as a three year old to his workmanlike efforts at four).

Against Old Fashioned, in my heart if not my mind, is his breeding. Like the late Eight Belles, also trained by Larry Jones, he's by Unbridled's Song. The Unbridled line has speed, heart, class, good minds and, it's suspected, fragile legs. The beautiful and game Eight Belles inexplicably fractured both ankles moments after her gallant second place finish in the 2008 Kentucky Derby and had to be euthanized on the track. Unbridled's Song himself had feet problems that doomed his chances in the 1990 Derby.

Thoroughbred racing has had a miserable two years in the public eye, with breakdowns in two Triple Crown races and the death of a brilliant European Champion, George Washington, in the 2007 Breeders Cup. Old Fashioned was already foaled by the time Eight Belles died, but should he win the Kentucky Derby even more mares would be sent to Unbridled's Song -- bad news for everyone who hopes breeders will stop choosing brilliance over soundness.