One more day to go to reach the crowning jewel! Tomorrow, Saturday, 6/11/16, is the 148th running of the Belmont Stakes. It is the third leg of the Triple Crown of U.S. Thoroughbred racing. The “Test of the Champion” will post at 6:32 P.M. EST at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York.
A lucky 13 horses will compete. Only 4 of these contenders did not run in at least one of the prior legs of the Triple Crown. The field is as follows, by post/horse/jockey/trainer/ owner:
- Governor Malibu/Joel Rosario/Christopher Clement/Jump Sucker Stable and Oak Bluff Stable
- Destin/Javier Castellano/Todd Pletcher/Twin Creeks Racing Stabel and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners
- Cherry Wine/Corey Lanerie/Dale Romans/William Pacella, Frank L. Jones, Jr. and Frank Shoop
- Suddenbreakingnews/Mike Smith/Donnie Von Hemel/Samuel F. Henderson
- Stadivari/John Velazquez/Todd Pletcher/John Gunther, Michael Tabor, Susan Magnier, Derrick Smith
- Gettysburg/Paco Lopez/Steve Asmussen/WinStar Farm
- Seeking the Soul/Florent Geroux/Dallas Stewart/Charles Fipke
- Forever d’ Oro/Jose Ortiz/Dallas Stewart/Charles Fipke
- Trojan Nation/Aaron Gryder/Patrick Gallagher/Julie Gilbert and Dr. Aaron Sones
- Lani/Yutaka Take/Matsunaga Mikio/Koji Maeda
- Exaggerator/Kent Desormeaux/Keith Desormeaux/Big Chief Racing, Head of Plains Partners/ Rocker O Ranch
- Brody’s Cause/Luis Saez/Dale Romans/Albaugh Family Stable
- Creator/Irad Ortiz, Jr./Steve Asmussen/WinStar Farm
Notice that there are a lot of repeats on trainers and owners. If the horse’s last race out was the Kentucky Derby or the Preakness Stakes, check my old stories to limit repetition.
Governor Malibu did not run the KY Derby or the Preakness. He is a New York bred horse so he is right at home. He has raced at Belmont 3 times of 7 starts in his career. He won twice, placed on 4 occasions and showed once as well. It took him 4 races to break his maiden. Most recently he finished 2nd in the Grade II Peter Pan Stakes.
Destin finished 6th in the KY Derby. He will likely position himself near the lead.
Cherry Wine was second in the Preakness Stakes.
Suddenbreakingnews came in 5th in the KY Derby.
Stradivari was the 4th horse to finish in the Preakness. He is know to run in the lead. Post position 5 is where American Pharoah broke from last year to win.
Gettysburg has had 7 starts. He has one win, one 2nd place and 1 third place finish in his career. His sire is Pioneer of the Nile who sired last year’s Triple Crown winner, American Pharoah. Gettysburg is grey and he finished 5th in both the Sam F. Davis Stakes and the Arkansas Derby. In his last race he was 3rd at Belmont. He is a front runner. He has a fun Twitter personality.
Seeking the Soul has only raced 3 times, breaking his maiden in his last race at Churchill Downs. At the same track, he placed 5th in his prior race on KY Derby day.
Forever d’ Oro is sired by Medaglia d’ Oro who was 2nd in the 2002 Belmont Stakes. The winner of the 2002 Belmont is pictured above in my #Flashback Friday photo. That is Sarava! I met Sarava last summer at Old Friend’s Farm In Georgetown, KY. Forever d’ Oro’s maternal grandsire was Lemon Drop Kid who won the Belmont Stakes in 1999. Forever d’ Oro has a nice family history but jut like Seeking the Soul he has only raced 3 times. He also broke his maiden in the last race, however it was at Belmont Park. He got his start at my home track, Keeneland!
Trojan Nation was 16th in the KY Derby.
Lani is my favorite Twitter character in the race. He has a nice following of fun stories, memes and videos. He was 9th in the KY Derby and 5th in the Preakness. He is the 1st Japanese horse to go for all three legs of the Triple Crown.
Exaggerator is the favorite. He was 2nd in the KY Derby and he won the Preakness Stakes.
Brody’s Cause was 7th in the KY Derby.
Creator finished lucky 13 in the KY Derby. He takes post position 13 which has never had a Belmont Stakes winner.
Belmont Stakes Fun Facts:
- The purse is $1.5 million dollars
- The drink is The Belmont Jewel
- The flower is the white carnation, thus “The Run for the Carnations” with a blanket of 700 carnations
- The race is 1 and 1/2 miles (12 furlongs) on dirt
- The song is “New York, New York”
- The trophy is the August Belmont Memorial Cup by Tiffany and Co.
- 5 other Grade 1 stakes are on Saturday’s Belmont card
- NBC Sports Network will televise the event from 3 to 5 P.M. EST and 7 to 7:30 P.M. EST while NBC will cover the live race from 5 to 7 P.M. EST
Unfortunately, this isn’t the year for a Triple Crown winner but it is still going to be a great day for racing. Have a super weekend everyone. I’ll find something new to bring you next week!
Share This: