What a difference

In 2009, Calvin Borel wins the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness.
In 2007, Calvin Borel wins the Kentucky Derby and places second in the Preakness.

In 2009, Calvin Borel is the talk of the town, appears on the David Letterman show, and has a Derby winner as his mount in the Belmont Stakes.

And in 2007? Oh, dear Reader, I suspect you've already forgotten what the hard-working Mr. Borel was doing on Belmont Stakes Day in 2007.

Go ahead -- try to remember ....

No, he didn't have a mount on the Belmont undercard. Guess again.
No, he wasn't riding "some filly" in a stakes at Churchill. Guess again.
No, he wasn't riding "some turf horse" in the Charles Whittingham Memorial at Hollywood Park.

No, no, no.

Shockingly, the last time Borel was the reigning Derby-winning jockey, he spent Belmont Stakes day riding in a few allowances and a minor stakes race. A very minor stakes race.

In 2007, only a few weeks after lunching with the Queen of England, the charmin' Cajun found himself in wild and wonderful West Virginia, where he rode Go Now in the Slipton Fell Stakes at Mountaineer.

And that, dear Reader, is the difference between "Win" and "Place" in the Preakness.