Jean Derench je dugogodišnji hroničar galopa u SAD, svedok epske triple krune koju je osvojio Secretariat 1973.
SUBOTA 11.06
BELMONT STAKES
Gr-1 2400m $1,500,000
JEAN Derench for BGTURF.COM
- 1 - I always say that I don't play favorites. Well, this time 'round I think I have to. I have great respect for the Kentucky Derby winner, Rich Strike, but Belmont is a whole new ball game. Did you see the Peter Pan Stakes back on May 14th? If you did, you saw a special horse. That waas WE THE PEOPLE who will probably go postward as the favorite in this year's renewal of the “Test of a Champion”. His record is admirable with 3 wins in 4 starts. In his first start back in February at Oaklawn Park, he decimated a field of 12 winning by over 5 lengths as he pleased at a mile. He came back on March 12 at the same track in a optional claiming race and won that one by five lengths and the chartcallers said “ridden out”. This was with a sixteenth of a mile added. Then they got greedy and popped him into the Arkansas Derby. He was washy and ended up quitting in the stretch while Cyberknife went on to win with Barber Road second. They reassessed and avoided the Derby and Preakness. In New York, his fourth start was the Peter Pan (at 9 furlongs) and he did not disappoint winning by over 10 sparkling lengths over Golden Glider leading all the way on a track labelled “good”. That sold me. Sire is Constitution (by Tapit) which won two Grade One races at 9 furlongs in a short 8-race career. He is the sire of Champion Tiz the Law which won the Belmont in 2020. He is also the sire of G2SW Independence Hall which won at 9 furlongs. Go back to the grandsire, Tapit, and you'll see he was the sire of four (count 'em! FOUR!) Belmont winners. The dam is the unraced Canadian bred Letchworth who is by 2x Horse of the Year, distance loving Tiznow. Pedigree is there. The only thing that stops me from going all in on this horse is his short career and the long Belmont homestretch. But I will be rooting for him. Trainer is Rodolphe Brisset and the rider will be Flavien Prat.
- 2 - From the two-gate will come SKIPPYLONGSTOCKING. He has won 2 of 10 starts, his last start being the Preakness in which he was 5th. Saffie Joseph is the trainer and Manny Franco is the rider. I gave a rundown of him prior to the Preakness. I don't think he has a chance to win but for the purse, I'd run him for a cut of it as well so I think the trainer is smart in that regard. In case you forgot, his sire is Preakness winner Exaggerator (by Preakness winner and Belmont 2cd Curlin). His best finish was a 3rd in the Wood Memorial (he took home $75,000 that day pasing 5 tired horses in the stretch. Not a bad way to get a paycheck!
- 3 - NEST is a filly. Pretty nice one is Nest. Her daddy is Curlin (Horse of the Year) and her dam is stakes winner Marion Ravenwood by A P Indy and she goes into the Belmont with 6 starts and 4 wins with a second and a third as well. Todd Pletcher is the trainer and Jose Ortiz will ride. She was second in the Kentucky Oaks to Secret Oath and that filly took on the boys in the Derby (finished 4th). In 2007, Pletcher saddled the great filly Rags to Riches to win the Belmont Stakes. She is a serious racehorse. And lest I forget, the dam produced Santa Anita Handicap winner Idol (10 furlongs) and he is a full brother to Nest.
- 4 - And then there is RICH STRIKE who upset in the Kentucky Derby left a lot of us smiling and happy. He came from no where and his connections were not well-known outside of those who follow racing on a daily basis. It showed everyone that the Derby Dream is attainable (if they leave the Japan horses in Japan....). I was impressed and happy with the win but despite the fact he skipped the Preakness to train for the Belmont, I don't see him winning. Do you? I'd consider him for second. Trainer is Eric Reed, jockey is Sonny Leon. (and remember the sire, Keen Ice, won the 10 furlong Travers after finishing 3rd in that year's Belmont Stakes. American Pharoah won the Belmont, of course, and he took his turn by defeating that one in the Travers). And, Keen Ice is by Curlin.
- 5 - CREATIVE MINISTER was third in the Preakness, some 3 1 lengths in back of the top two, Early Voting and Epicenter. He was “grinding away” down the stretch. Ken McPeek, trainer, gets a lot of respect from me so he sees more in this Creative Cause son than anyone else. Brian Hernandez Jr will ride. Race record is a small 4 starts with 2 wins, a second and a third. Both his wins were in Kentucky and both at a mile and a sixteeth. My thoughts have always been that the best horse in the Belmont Stakes is one who has had at least a race over the surface, and better still, a win. Creative Minister has never started in New York. He's had two nice workouts at Belmont since the Preakness...but that ain't a race.
- 6 - MO DONEGAL won the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct back in early April , defeating the Preakness winner Early Voting by a neck. “Skippy” was third in that one. It was his second start of the year and I had hoped he would fair better in the Kentucky Derby but 5th in that race was not embarassing. He is a come-from-behind horse. Sire is Uncle Mo who was the sire of Ky Derby winner Nyquist, Hollywood Derby winner (turf) Mo Forza, G2SW Envoutante, all which won over a distance of ground even if Uncle Mo's pedigree says speed. The dam is the Pulpit daughter Callingmissbrown which won 2 races in 4 starts in 2016, both at sprint disances. Trainer is Todd Pletcher and rider is the other Ortiz brother, Irad Jr.
- 7 - GOLDEN GLIDER comes into the Belmont Stakes after finishing second in the Peter Pan Stakes. His career record is 6 starts with 2 wins, and that second. As a two year old, he won his first start at 1 1/16 miles on the all weather track at Woodbine in Canada, which was his only start at two. This year, at Tampa Bay Downs in January, he won an optional claiming race at a mile the same distance, coming from last to win by just under 2 lengths as the favorite in a five horse field. He was unplaced in his next three starts, all graded stakes. Sire is Horse of the Year Ghostzapper, which won the Breeders Cup Classic in 2004. He is a perennial leading sire and his get include last year's Dubai Cup winner (10 furlongs) Mystic Guide, Canadian Champion Shaman Ghost (who won at 10 and 12 furlongs in stakes company), Whitney Stakes winner Moreno, and champion sprinting mare Judy the Beauty. And another sprinting graded stakes winning mare, Paulassilverlining. He's also got a graded stakes winner in Russia and a son that's doing OK in the Bahamas. :) Dam is Golden Scarf by Sprint Champion Orientate. Her lone victory was at Charlestown at six and a half furlongs in a maiden claiming event. She is the dam of a stakes winning sprinter in Canada. This pedigree is certainly suspect for a mile and a half, wouldn't you say? Well, trainer Mark Casse knows that this race pays out in the neighborhood of $30,000 for 8th place. And he did win the race in 2019 with Sir Winston (who?). Dylan Davis is the rider.
- 8 - BARBER ROAD has been getting a lot of attention in the press. Training at Churchill Downs, before and after the Kentucky Derby, he ventures to New York for the first time with trainer John Ortiz, who comes from Long Island, just a few blocks from Beautiful Belmont. That would be storybook, wouldn't it? Anyway, back to the horse. Barber Road has started 9 times with 2 wins. The first time and the last time he won was as a two year old. In October at a mile and a sixteeth, he was in a $30,000 claiming event and won at Keeneland and then a few weeks later, at Churchill Downs, he won again, this time in a starter allowance at six and a half furlongs. He ended his juvenile season by placing in a listed stakes race at 6 1 furlongs and started his three year old season on New Year's Day at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas in the Smarty Jones Stakes when he was second to Dash Attack at a mile. (A few weeks ago, Dash Attack won a stake at a mile and a sixteeth at Monmouth Park.) At the end on January, Barber Road entered graded stakes territory by starting in the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes and he was second (to Newgrange), coming from next-to-last. Next stop was the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes when Un Ojo and Ethereal Road (withdrawn from the Belmont earlier this week) finished in front of him--both Newgrange and Dash Attack finished well back that day. He hung around for Oaklawn's premier event, the Arkansas Derby, and was outfinished by Cyberknife by 2 3 lengths, at 10-1, once again coming from next to last. (We the People was 7th that day). In the Kentucky Derby, he came from 19th place (lots of traffic that day, not so much Belmont day), to finish 6th. They have switched rider to Joel Rosario.
OK...so that's the field. Pick one, watch and enjoy the race. By the way, once again the New York Racing Association has put together an outstanding supporting card which features 13 races and includes 9 stakes races. The Grade One Acorn stakes has Echo Zulu; the G1 Just A Game has Regal Glory and In Italian (GB); the now Grade 2 Brooklyn drew that Chilean stakes winner (by Constitution), First Constituition; the the G1 Woody Stephens (named for the man who won FIVE Belmonts in a row) attracted the fantastic Jack Christopher, Morello and Wit; the G1 Ogden Phipps has an incredible field of fillies-Letruska, Malathaat, Clairiere, Search Result—which to me is the most exciting race on the card; and then there's the G1 Jaipur Stakes (named for the winner of the 1962 Belmont) which has the largest field at 13 starters; the G1 Metropolitan Mile which features the Tapit son Flightline; and the G1 turf marathon, the Manhattan (come on Channel Maker!). Hey, the first horse in the first race will be ridden by Sonny Leon, who is Rich Stike's jockey. It's just an allowance event but it's packed....the whole card is fantastic! I think I will OD on racing!!
By the way...
The first Belmont Stakes I saw in person was in 1969. The Derby/Preakness winner Majestic Prince was defeated that day by Arts and Letters who would go on to win the Three Year Old Champion title as well as being named Horse of the Year. It was a tremendous race (Prince was second). On the way home, my husband who had my film (back then no digital cameras!) in his shirt pocket, LOST them and it was a bone of contention for a long, long time! Anyway, I've been back to Belmont 15 or so times since. The last time was in 2018 to see Justify win the Triple Crown. In between I saw Secretariat, Seattle Slew, Affirmed and American Pharoah as well. Getting too old to deal with the crowds. But that can be my epitaph – I saw FIVE Triple Crown winners in my lifetime. I'll be happy with that!