Great Horses’ Ties to the Great Land

Anchorage—

The Last Frontier’s connections to the Triple Crown continue. Last year Mine That Bird—a horse co-owned by former VECO executive Mark Allen—won the Kentucky Derby before taking second in the Preakness and third in the Belmont Stakes. Last Saturday First Dude—a horse named after Todd Palin, the husband of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin—placed second in the Preakness.

Bill Allen is part of both horses' stories. Mark Allen appears to have bought his share of Mine That Bird out of funds he got after his father sold VECO, and Sarah Palin’s new-face-running-against-the-good-old-boys campaign for Governor in 2006 was substantially aided by the FBI’s searches of legislative offices that concentrated on crimes Bill Allen was involved in.