Greetings all,
It’s time for the 139th Belmont Stakes, the oldest and final leg of the Triple Crown races. Even though there’s no chance of a Triple Crown winner this year or an opportunity to rematch the winners of the first two races (Street Sense’s connections decided to take their pony and go home) the race gained some spark with the entry of KY Oaks-winning filly, Rags to Riches. Plus a third match up of two of the top three finishers in the Derby and Preakness is nothing to sneeze at either. It’s been an interesting week in New York with lots of shuffling among potential entries and their jockeys. I’ll make note of some of the details in my points to ponder below. As always remember the Belmont is 1 ½ miles long – a full ¼ mile (or about the length of the Churchill Downs homestretch) further than the Derby. Most of these horses will never run this far again, let alone around just two turns. This race has fooled more than one inexperienced jockey into moving too soon only to realize with dismay he’s not even close to the finish. The horses are listed below along with the usual conglomeration of factoids, unsubstantiated rumors, and snide observations.
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Imawildandcrazyguy – He closed well to finish 4th in the Derby, much like Jazil did last year prior to winning the Belmont. His trainer says he’s been aiming the horse at the Belmont all year. He says he can run all day, which really doesn’t help much unless he can run fast all day. He went back to his Florida home after the Derby and had some good workouts, including a nice mile work 1 ½ weeks ago. He had a quick 3 furlong breeze at Belmont on Sunday and appeared to handle the track well. His pedigree doesn’t have a whole lot of stamina in it, but maybe he just happened to get the important genes from the right ancestors.
Tiago – He finished a closing 7th place in the Derby then returned to California. He also had a nice mile workout 1 ½ weeks ago. He’s been at Belmont for about a week and has one leisurely work over the track. He’s a half brother to Giacomo who finished 7th in the Belmont, but Tiago has a sire who should add more stamina to the mix. Speaking of mixes. Tiago drinks high class bottled water when away from his home at Hollywood Park. Apparently, the water there is filtered, so in order to keep his horse happy on the road, trainer John Shirreffs buys him several cases of bottled water to drink each day. Mike Smith rode in New York for years, so he knows the track, but he’s never won this race.
Curlin – He’s been doing very well after his tremendous effort in the Preakness. He went back to Churchill Downs where he had a couple of easy workouts and then arrived in New York this week. Jockey Robbie Albarado believes Curlin has matured quite a bit in his last two races. It will be interesting to see if he’s still improving or if he reached a peak in the Preakness. Most people think he’s still on an upswing. Pedigree-wise he doesn’t have the best distance pedigree in the field, but it’s not bad. Albarado has won some big races at Belmont Park, but never this one. Curlin will be one of two horses receiving a perfect attendance award for the Triple Crown.
C P West – Shoeless Nick Zito sent him up to Saratoga for training after his nice 4th place finish in the Preakness. Saratoga is where Shoeless Nick has trained any number of horses who pop up in the Belmont and run big. Birdstone anyone? Shoeless Nick has run 19 horses in the Belmont, won it once, was 2nd 6 times, and was 3rd twice. He didn’t decide to enter the Belmont until after Street Sense dropped out of the race. Does that count as a vote of no confidence in Curlin and Hard Spun? Edgar Prado is based in New York and has won the Belmont twice before. CP West’s pedigree is a little short on his dad’s side, but chock full o’ stamina on his mom’s side.
Slew’s Tizzy – He’s 2 for 2 since removing blinkers for his last two races which were the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland and the Lone Star Derby. Robbie Albarado rode him in those two races, but elected to stay with Curlin for this race. Trainer Greg Fox then hired John Velazquez to ride, but when Rags to Riches entered Johnny asked to be released from his commitment, so he could ride the filly. Fox graciously agreed to being jilted for the 2nd time and promptly hired Rafael Bejarano who, so far, shows no signs of leaving him at the altar. You have to appreciate the irony if this horse wins after two jocks pass on him. Slew’s Tizzy has a pedigree which might get him 1 ½ miles, but the best stamina sources are a few generations back.
Hard Spun - He’ll also be receiving a perfect attendance award for the Triple Crown, and as his trainer previously noted, it’s his turn to win one. Hard Spun’s karma points took a bit of a blow when the owner dumped jockey Mario Pino in favor of bigger name Garret Gomez. It almost backfired on them when the filly entered because Gomez was her regular rider, and he asked to be released so he could ride her instead. These connections held Gomez to his commitment though. So Hard Spun will have a new jockey who will have to try to get him to relax and save his high cruising speed for the proper point in the race. He had a nice get acquainted workout with Gomez last Sunday at Belmont. Don’t forget he’s a Polish horse with some serious stamina sources in his pedigree.
Rags to Riches – The filly who was a last minute entry even though Todd Pletcher says he’s been sort of pointing her towards this race since she won the KY Oaks 5 weeks ago. She’s won all 4 of her races this year, but has never raced against the boys. Only two fillies have ever won the Belmont, with the last being in 1905, but there have been others who have finished in the money. She’s been working well at Belmont for the last month. She’s a 1/2 sister to last year’s Belmont winner, Jazil. She looks nothing like him though, being a big red filly with a white face while he’s a small dark brown colt. As a daughter of AP Indy, along with some other stamina influences, she should be able to get the distance. As mentioned earlier, Johnny Velazquez picks up the mount after he gets released from his commitment to ride Slew’s Tizzy who was ditched by Robbie Albarado, while Rags to Riches regular rider Gomez is tied up with Hard Spun and Rafael Bejarano picks up the vacant mount on Slew’s Tizzy. I love it when they play musical jockeys. It reminds me of high school and sorting out who was taking whom to the prom. To circle back to the race, lets just say Rags to Riches would like to be the prom queen by the end of the day Saturday.
That’s our Belmont field. There should be a variety of odds to choose from, ranging from favorite Curlin to an assortment of longshots. One or more of those longshots might be necessary to catch the leader of The Royal Edition 11ARFTCHC, Gordon. He has a total of $238.40 and leads Thom and J.O. by about $90. There are a few of us about another $30 further back, but everyone has a chance if we happen to get a longshot winner of Sarava-like proportions. So pick your three ponies and send them to me by post time on Saturday which is 6:25 pm. The television coverage is being done by ABC this time. You might also want to tune into some of the great races on the undercard televised by ESPN and see some favorite horses from previous Triple Crown series like Steppenwolfer, or Keyed Entry.
As usual, I will be dancing with the ones what brung me (which fits with the whole prom date/musical jockey theme) and pick:
Curlin – he’s pretty good
Hard Spun – he’s not bad
CP West – in the absence of any other inspiration I turn to Shoeless Nick
If you're looking for inspiration, check out the video posted below.
In any event here’s wishing a safe trip to all horses and humans.
May the horse be with you.
The Annoyed Handicapper
