A TRIPLE CROWN HAS NEVER BEEN WORN WITH A GRAY COAT.If he wins the Belmont Stakes Belmont Stakes Oldest of the three U.S. horse races that constitute the Triple Crown. The Belmont originated in 1867 and is named after August Belmont (see Belmont family). The stakes is held in early June at Belmont Park, near Garden City, Long Island; the course is 1.5 mi (2,400 m). on Saturday, Silver Charm Silver Charm (born February 22 1994) is an American Champion Thoroughbred race horse. Trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by Gary Stevens, Silver Charm won the 1997 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes before falling short of the Triple Crown by placing second in the Belmont will make a bit of frivolous history as the first gray horse to sweep the Triple Crown. Though there is no known link between horses' colors and racing abilities, grays are objects of fascination in many ways: A ``gray'' coat actually is a combination of white and black hairs, typically the result of a horse born bay or chestnut rapidly losing his pigmentation pigmentation, name for the coloring matter found in certain plant and animal cells and for the color produced thereby. Pigmentation occurs in nearly all living organisms. . Some horses who appear gray are really roan roan a coat color consisting of a relatively uniform mixture of white and colored hairs, giving a 'silvered' hue; self-describing colors are red-roan, blue-roan, chestnut roan. , a mixture of white and colored hairs. Silver Charm and Preakness runner-up Free House are listed officially as ``gray or roan.'' Grays and roans have won six of 123 Kentucky Derbies, four of 122 Preaknesses and three of 128 Belmont Stakes, in line with their percentage of the thoroughbred population. Only Spectacular Bid (1979) and Silver Charm won both the Derby and the Preakness. Gray horses invariably in·var·i·a·ble adj. Not changing or subject to change; constant. in·var  i·a·bil have at least one gray parent. Silver Charm's sire, Silver Buck, is gray. Silver Buck's dam, Silver True, was gray. In cavalry days, breeders avoided grays because their offspring might be too visible on the battlefield. For the same reason - visibility - 1953 Preakness and Belmont winner Native Dancer became the sport's first TV star. Grays are feared or shunned by other horses, according to some observers. Like fair-haired humans, gray horses are more prone to skin cancer. Sentences most often heard from harebrained hare·brained adj. Foolish; flighty: a harebrained scheme. Usage Note: The first use of harebrained dates to 1548. - or hair-brained - handicappers: ``I always bet on gray horses,'' and, ``I never bet on gray horses.'' |
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