Sarah Palin was at Belmont Park yesterday for the Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the Triple Crown.

The horse she came to follow, First Dude,, called after her husband pretty much ran like Sarah Palin's career.

First Dude came flying out o f the gate like Sarah did after the Republican convention in the summer of 2008.

He pinned back his ears and ran a hole in the wind, on the lead all the way and looked quite likely to take the race as they went down the far side of Big Sandy as Belmont Park is called.

Just like Palin, whose place on the McCain presidential ticket proved so popular and meant that they zoomed past Barack Obama in the race for the White House for a brief moment.

However, turning into the home stretch First Dude began to tire. His stride shortened and the other horses came at him.

Kind of like Palin who underwent enormous media scrutiny and saw her early advances checked.

By the time they reached the furlong pole First Dude was chopped liver but that did not mean he gave up.

He fought on bravely to be third and stayed the course far better than most expected.

Exactly like Palin who was expected to disappear after her ticket got hammered by Obama in the 2008 election.

But she hung in there and is now still a prominent runner in the Republican presidential stakes.

Kinda like the horse, she looks likely to stick around for a while.