Phfew. I have to say, while I enjoy Square Eddie, I was dreading the possibilities. Had another Derby horse broken down and in this case from a known pre-existing situation however healed they thought it was, we would've seen the sky fall down. The Derby's just the right amount of pressure that, if he passed the physical test and hit the board or had somehow ended up having all the cards go his way for the win, they would risk pointing to the Preakness only to wind up with disaster.
I always felt if you don't have a horse sound enough and prepared enough to hit all 3 races (hey nobody says you have to win all 3), hold out of the Derby at the very least. There's less pressure to continue after a Preakness win than a Derby win and if you wait til the Belmont, well you can take all the time you need. Unless you're prepared to press on after a win, you're causing headaches for everyone and it's not in the horse's best interest either. The pressure would drive folks to try to keep going when maybe they wouldn't otherwise.
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