Orb saw his dream of winning all Triple Crown races come to a crushing end as Oxbow cruised to a wire-to-wire finish at the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course on Saturday.
Oxbow surprised everybody in the 138th edition of the Preakness Stakes after pulling off a dominant win against a field of elite horses - including Kentucky Derby winner and Triple Crown favorite Orb.
Gary Stevens, who ended his seven-year hiatus from horse racing in January, had Oxbow taking charge from the rail and kept the horse ahead of the pack for the entire the race. Oxbow clocked in with 1:57.54 ahead of Itsmyluckyday (2nd) and Mylute (3rd).
"At 50 years old, after seven years retirement, it doesn't get any better than this," Stevens told ESPN following his third Preakness victory. "This is super, super sweet, and it happened for the right guy. All the stars were aligned. It's even more special winning it for Wayne Lukas and his team."
Stevens also has three victories at the Kentucky Derby and three more at the Belmont Stakes for a total nine wins in Triple Crown races.
Oxbow's victory couldn't be any sweeter for the renown horse trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who ended his 13-year Triple Crown race drought.
The 77-year old Lukas captured his 14th Triple Crown race victory, and importantly, put away any chance of a Triple Crown victory this year.
"I get paid to spoil dreams," Lukas told ESPN. "Unfortunately we go over here and you can't mail 'em in. It's a different surface and a different time. You gotta line 'em up and win 'em."
Orb enters Saturday's race as a 3-5 favorite, having won five races in a row. However, Orb had an unlikely slow start coming off the rail and the colt never captured his rhythm the rest of the way.
"After we passed the half mile, he had a hard time keeping up and I kind of worried a little bit," Orb's jockey Joel Rosario told ESPN. "He just kind of steadied after that. He usually takes you there. He always runs hard, but today he never took off."
Affirmed swept the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes in 1978, making him the 11th and still the last horse to pull off a rare Triple Crown win.