Lookin at Lee, runner-up at Churchill Downs, is the only horse to race all three Triple Crown races. There are no champions in this race. There’s still a lot to race for: The total purse is $1.5 million with an $800,000 winner’s share.
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Held at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., the Belmont Stakes lays claim to the fact that it is the oldest of the Triple Crown races, since it was first run three years before the inaugural Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Ky., and one year before the Preakness Stakes debuted in Baltimore, Md.
Baffert doesn’t have a horse in the field, but has an interest in the race. His speed numbers have improved with every race in his 3-year-old season. I picture Gormley and Irish War Cry stalking the leaders while Lookin at Lee and Senior Investment make a late push.
No excuses Saturday as the Belmont track is expected to be fast. In that case, he’s ready for a good performance. “If there’s no pace at all, he can lead or he can sit in second position”. It does come with questions about a Japanese horse with a sore foot. He had qualified for the Kentucky Derby by way of winning an automatic qualifier race in Japan previous year.
Romans has had some awfully good horses finish off the board in the Belmont, including 2011 Preakness victor Shackleford and multiple Grade 1 winners Dullahan (2012) and Brody’s Cause (2016).
Unfortunately for the connections, Epicharis had a bout of lameness Wednesday. Horse trainers like Gyarmati oversee the conditioning and preparation of the horses before their races, adjusting their fitness regimens according to the races they’re set to run along with their staff. His best finish was third in the Belmont. What remains to be seen is if he runs like the horse who wired the field in the Lambholm South Holy Bull Stakes (G2) or the one who had his connections dismayed after the first Saturday in May.
Despite the length of the Belmont, the big rally from far behind rarely happens (although it did previous year with Creator). “He is a major win threat to me, especially if he manages to pass some horses on the back stretch and doesn’t have to sweep by the whole field in the final five-eighths of a mile”. His sire, Palace Malice, another son of Curlin won the 2013 Belmont, so Irish War Cry certainly has the pedigree to stay the 12-furlong Belmont distance. I’m not sure if it was the distance (1¼ miles) or the sloppy track conditions that affected Irish War Cry in the Derby. “He can do whatever I want him to do, I think, so it just depends on what’s happening in the race”, said Rajiv Maragh, the jockey for Irish War Cry.
The Todd Pletcher-trained, one-eyed Patch has Derby-winning jockey John Velazquez onboard after finishing 14th in Kentucky, while Pletcher’s best prospect is likely to be Tapwrit, which was sixth in the Derby. That finish was actually laudable considering his trouble. Irish War Cry finished 10th in this year’s Kentucky Derby before skipping the Preakness.
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Tapwrit was sixth in the Derby and Patch was 14th. He won the Tampa Bay Derby with an eye-catching move but then disappointed in the Blue Grass at Keeneland, where he was unprepared for the start. Mike Smith picks up the mount, as Jose Ortiz chooses to ride Tapwrit. So if I am right and the winning amount on a trifecta is $100 on a $1 bet, I will win $200 because my bet was for $2.
