Creator has won the 148th running of the Belmont Stakes in a photo finish, edging out Destin in the mile-and-a-half race.
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All-sources betting on this year’s Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in NY was down 37 percent compared with wagering on the race last year, when interest in the race was buoyed significantly by the popular and ultimately successful bid for a Triple Crown by American Pharoah, according to charts of the races.
Romans, still on the mend from a auto accident hours after the Derby last month, will send out Preakness runner-up Cherry Wine and Derby also-ran Brody’s Cause in a bid for his first Belmont win.
“It’s a handsome day, much less crowded, but it makes it nicer for everyone who is here”, said Loretta Tumbarello, of West Hempstead. Destin paid $9.40, $6.20, while Lani returned $6.60 to show.
Creator did not even race the Preakness having finished 13th in the Kentucky Derby, but managed to scoop the $1.5million prize in Elmont, New York. As Gettysburg faded at the top of the stretch, Destin took the lead alone.
A total of 126 horses ran on this year’s card, compared with 115 last year.
This was Creator’s day, a hot, sticky one at Belmont Park with temperatures in the mid 80s. This was Creator’s second grade one victory and his career stats now stand at 10: 3-4-1 with $1,568,320 in earnings. The colt was a first Belmont victor for his prolific trainer Asmussen, whose only previous Triple Crown successes had come in the Preakness via Rachel Alexandra (2007) and Curlin (2009), who suffered an agonising defeat after a pitched battle down the stretch with the filly Rags To Riches in that year’s Belmont.
Exaggerator and Lani were the only horses who ran in all three Triple Crown races.
The winning time for the 1-1/2 miles was 2:28.51. He raced far off the pace set early on by Gettysburg, who was entered by Creator’s owner to ensure an honest pace.
One could say it took a village to get Creator in position for his redemption run. “Irad gave him a dream trip”.
Asmussen informed WinStar Farm president Elliott Walden a week after the Kentucky Derby that he didn’t want to bring Creator to the final leg of the Triple Crown unless he felt confident he could win. When he tried to make a move, the horse trained by his brother, Keith, just didn’t have it.
Asmussen watched in dismay when Curlin, who went on to be a two-time Horse of the Year, was outdueled by Rags to Riches, a brilliant filly, in the 2007 “Test of the Champion”.
Exaggerator’s rider Kent Desormeaux said, “The horse that is usually keen to progress was not underneath me”.
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“By the time we got to the eight pole, he was stepping on his tongue”, said jockey Kent Desormeaux, who said neither the track surface nor the traffic could be blamed. “I nursed him to the quarter pole and set him down, put him down for a mad drive and said, ‘Show me your stuff, ‘ and there was nothing there”. They are familiar names: Lani (ninth in Derby, fifth in Preakness), Cherry Wine (second in Preakness), Creator (13th in Derby) and Destin (sixth in Derby).
