Unfortunately, Nyquist was pulled from the race a few days later when he came down with a temperature.
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Lani (20-1), the horse who shipped from Japan for the Derby and Preakness, is back. Odds: 30-1. 8. FOREVER D’ORO (Dallas Stewart, Jose Ortiz): Broke maiden in third career start at Belmont on May 29.
Missing from the field is Nyquist, who came out of his third-place finish in the Preakness with a fever and elevated white blood cell count that led to a decision to skip the Belmont.
“Just because it’s a little shorter run into the first turn here, it seems it would be a disadvantage to be on the outside”, Desormeaux acknowledged. His sire, Curlin, won the Preakness before finishing second in the Belmont in 2007.
The distance of the Belmont is always problematic. Kent Desormeaux will ride Exaggerator again, but there was some speculation that he wouldn’t be able to after checking into alcohol rehab sometime after the Preakness. Exaggerator will line up in the 11th slot, though recent years have shown the post positioning to be a nominal factor in the outcome of the race.
The projected field of thirteen will include seven horses exiting the Kentucky Derby as well as the second, fourth, and fifth place finishers from the Preakness.
It’s tough to win the marathon race wire-to-wire. Suddenbreakingnews finished fifth in the Kentucky Derby, but benefited from a slow early going that allowed him to use his speed in the final furlongs.
Trojan Nation (30-1) has about as much of a chance of hitting the board Saturday as Secretariat, who died in 1989. Then he had mud kicked in his face for the first time. Smith has won the Belmont twice since 2010. A late push at the Belmont could mean a victory. He has the pedigree, talent, and pilot to score the upset against Exaggerator on Saturday. There are only two others in the race that would be considered possible front-runners, Destin and Stradivari. Like Suddenbreakingnews, he is a late runner but his trainer, Dale Romans, told the Daily Racing Form that he has been training him with the intent to keep him closer to the pace in the Belmont. For example, Sunday Silence’s big advantage over Easy Goer in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness was his ability to handle the turns far better than his rival. On the flip side, closers flourished, with the top three finishers coming from over nine lengths off the pace after the six-furlong call.
This was an impressive race, considering he moved from an allowance race to the Grade I Preakness.
“A mile or a mile and a half or over fits him like a glove”, Henderson said.
Destin has two stakes wins on his resume and finished a respectable sixth in the Kentucky Derby. Though Nyquist and his California connections were unable to win the second jewel at Pimlico Race Course, a horse that spent his entire 3-yr-old prep season at Santa Anita was.
Both are trained by Todd Pletcher, a two-time Belmont victor.
A year ago, American Pharoah became the first Triple Crown victor in 37 years, sweeping the Derby, Preakness and Belmont. Destin will also have the services of jockey Javier Castellano who is a regular rider at Belmont Park and understands how to navigate the track’s unique layout.
Even 2006 Belmont victor Jazil, who was last early, was fifth before the field reached the far turn and assumed the lead straightening for the stretch drive. So the Saturday forecast of ideal weather in Elmont, New York, is considered a negative for the horse. The 2016 Belmont will be run on Saturday with the post time set for 6:32 p.m. ET.
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Kevin Martin is the founder of the thoroughbred racing history site Colin’s Ghost and a contributing editor at Hello Race Fans.
