It wasn’t exactly the Heidi Game, but it was close enough for hockey fans.

The Ottawa Senators and the Buffalo Sabres were about to go into overtime when NBC cut away to show their regularly scheduled program: the Preakness Stakes. Those with access to Versus (or to the Canadian feed) saw the Sens move on to the Stanley Cup finals. Those without? Well, it was just another day in the life of a hockey fan in America.

At least they got to see a tremendous horse race. Curlin beat Street Sense by a nose to cash in on some of the hype he brought to the Triple Crown trail. The first two jewels in the Crown have been excellent to value bettors. At the Derby, Curlin was the pre-race favorite until Street Sense put in a beautiful workout and starting drawing all the attention – and action. Those who got in early were able to nab Street Sense at 6-1 instead of 9-2. The shoe was on the other hoof at the Preakness; although Street Sense remained the favorite at 7-5, the somewhat forgotten Curlin was generating plenty of horseplay at 7-2.

The race itself was a beauty. As expected with three frontrunners (including Hard Spun) in the field of nine, the first half-mile was a sprinter’s dream, completed in just 45.75 seconds. Street Sense, as he did at the Derby, charged from far behind to take the lead from Hard Spun down the stretch; Curlin, however, was the stalker du jour. After stumbling out of the gate, Robby Albarado put in a masterful ride, getting maximum results from Curlin down the last quarter-mile to eke out the victory.

Both Street Sense and Curlin got some help from Mother Nature. In the hour leading up to the Preakness, the track at Pimlico saw enough rainfall to harden the surface, but not enough to make it sloppy. That gave both horses the purchase they needed to make their patented closes before running out of distance.

The Preakness, exciting as it was, may prove to be even more disappointing to horseplayers than it was to hockey fans. Curlin’s victory likely brings an end to Street Sense’s career. Without a Triple Crown to race for, the Derby winner is expected to miss the Belmont and go straight to stud for something in the neighborhood of $30 million. Now that’s a golden handshake.

After an impressive ten-length win in last fall’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, the talk started. Can we finally see a Juvie winner come back and win the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby? Or even win the Triple Crown?

After Breeders’ Cup Day we thought we were going to have an added bonus. Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Filly winner Dreaming of Anna was a very impressive winner, and owner Frank Calabrese and trainer Wayne Catalano said their talented filly would be pointed toward the Triple Crown.

That idea came to a halt on February 10 when the filly made her three-year-old debut in the Grade 3 Old Hat Stakes. She stumbled coming out of the gate and did not look like the same filly who won the Eclipse Award for top two-year-old filly, weakening to finish third.

The connections have now decided to keep her facing the girls and she is likely going to do most of her running this year on turf. She won the Grade 3 Summer on grass last fall.

That leaves us with Street Sense to end the Juvie jinx. The colt will likely make his three-year-old debut in either the Hutcheson at Gulfstream or the Rushaway at Oaklawn Park. If all goes well, his second and final Kentucky Derby prep will come in the Blue Grass at Keeneland over the polytrack.

The colt is trained by Carl Nafzger, who won the Kentucky Derby in 1990 with Unbridled. Street Sense is by Street Cry out of a Dixieland Band mare.

The colt has the right foundation to be a top Derby contender. He made five starts as a two-year-old. He broke his maiden in his second career start and followed that up with third-place finishes in the Grade 3 Arlington Washington Futurity and the Grade 2 Breeders’ Futurity before his Breeders’ Cup Juvenile win.

There was encouraging news out of Palm Meadows on Sunday where the two-year-old champ is training. The colt worked five furlongs in a speedy 1:00.4.

Nafzger told The Daily Racing Form, “This is what we’ve been building to thus far all winter. He really kicked in down the stretch and hit the line good. We’ve hit every step perfectly with him up to now, but he’s still a couple of more works away before he’s ready to run. But a work like this gives us more options to consider as we get closer.”

Futures bettors are ignoring “The Jinx” as Street Sense closed at 10/1 in Pool One of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager. The only betting interests to get more action were the field (5/2) and Nobiz Like Shobiz, who went off at 8/1.

The colt has Kentucky Derby winning connections, a pedigree that is about as good as any of the main contenders to get the 1 1/4 miles, and obviously has the talent.

Now all he needs to do is get through his two prep races healthy and get some racing luck on the first Saturday of May.

Sounds so easy, doesn’t it? The Racing Gods don’t think so.

Right now the score is Racing Gods 23, Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winners 0.