Wandering Eyes

Klein Racing's Break Even ran her race record to a perfect five with a front-running victory in the Jersey Girl Stakes June 9 at Belmont Park. Already a grade 2 winner, the filly is now being aimed for the seven-furlong Longines Test Stakes (G1). View the full article

While the GI Belmont S. itself wasn’t exactly scintillating, the other nine stakes races on Saturday’s card were so outstanding, they not only saved the day, they may well have made this the most special day of racing you will see in a long time. With the exception of Breeders’ Cup Saturday, the Belmont Stakes Day card has turned into, year after year, the second best card of racing run in this country. It’s always a good day, and this one was off the charts. All of which makes this question pertinent: After what we saw Saturday, who is the No. 1 horse in the sport? It’s not poor Sir Winston (Awesome Again), the Belmont winner. Something tells me he’s going to have to accomplish a lot more before he starts to earn respect. Number one right now? I’ll go with Bricks and Mortar (Giant’s Causeway), but only by a nose. That’s how good some of the other winners were on the card. What more can you say about him than he’s a machine? He never blows anyone away, but the GI Manhattan S. was his fifth straight win and fourth this year. Thanks in large part to the $7-million GI Pegasus World Cup Turf S., he’s already earned over $4 million this year. You almost have to feel sorry for his stablemates, Robert Bruce (Chi) (Fast Company {Ire}) and Raging Bull (Fr) (Dark Angel {Ire}). They both ran the races of their lives to finish second and third, respectively, but just couldn’t find a way to beat Bricks and Mortar. Oh, and here’s something you probably never heard before: trainer Chad Brown finished 1-2-3 in a Grade I turf race. As good as Bricks and Mortar was, and has been all year, I just have easily could have put Mitole (Eskendereya) in the top spot. As recently as Apr. 13, he was a sprinter who had never even started in a graded stakes race. Then he won the GIII Count Fleet Sprint H. at Oaklawn, but had still never raced beyond six furlongs. Then he won the seven-furlong GI Churchill Downs S. on Derby Day. Trainer Steve Asmussen took the kid gloves off and entered him in the GI Metropolitan H. at a mile, apparently not afraid that he was going up against what virtually everyone thought was the best field of the year. He found himself in a dogfight and runner-up McKinzie (Street Sense) didn’t have the greatest trip, but Mitole did it again. He not only won over one of the toughest fields assembled in a long time but he proved he can go a mile. Asmussen knows his horses and if he believes that Mitole is a one-turn horse then who’s to doubt him? But wouldn’t you love to see this horse try two turns, a-mile-and-an-eighth? He has passed every test so far, so why not that one? And if he does, we may be talking Horse of the Year material. Two career starts does not a superstar make, but would you really be that surprised if some day we are all talking about ‘TDN Rising Star’ Guarana (Ghostzapper) as one of the best 3-year-old fillies of her era. Sure, she broke her maiden by 14 3/4 lengths in her only career start prior to Saturday, but going straight from a maiden win into a Grade I is asking an awful lot of a horse. She didn’t just handle the task, she made it look ridiculously easy, winning by six lengths. Chad Brown (there’s that guy again) can now pick his spots from among the GI Mother Goose S., GI Coaching Club American Oaks and GI Alabama S. He might not go in all three, but you can already etch Guarana’s name on the trophies for whichever of those spots she shows up in. Rushing Fall (hey, another Chad Brown-trainee) showed she’s the queen of her division when winning the GI Just A Game S. Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute), another beast, proved she’s the best older dirt filly or mare in the country when winning the GI Ogden Phipps S. It will be fascinating to see what will happen when and if her 2018 nemesis Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) gets back to the races to take on her old rival again. The turf sprinter division might be the least sexy in racing, but has anyone ever seen a better one than World of Trouble (Kantharos)? He won his fifth straight and seven of his last eight by beating Om (Munnings) in the GI Jaipiur Invitational S. (Om, by the way, is the answer to a great trivia question. He’s one of two horses in history to defeat American Pharoah {Pioneerof the Nile}, which he did in Pharoah’s debut way back in 2014. The other is Keen Ice {Curlin} in the 2015 GI Travers S.) Much can change between now and Breeders’ Cup Day and we still really don’t know how good Maximum Security (New Year’s Day) is. But something tells me we saw the Horse of the Year perform on Saturday’s card and that their victory that day helped push them a long way toward that title. Congratulations to all of the above mentioned horses and the other winners on the day. Congratulations as well to the entire NYRA team for putting on a great, great, great day and week of racing. Not only were the races outstanding, but not one horse was injured during the three-day Belmont Festival. Okay, so it hasn’t been a stellar year for 3-year-old males, but maybe there’s a silver lining to that cloud. Any time a 3-year-old colt dominates his division or comes anywhere close to it, they’re done–off to stud. At this point the “four” Triple Crown winners have a lot more to prove until someone bowls their owners over with offers to stand them at stud. If they stay heathy, it’s very possible that Maximum Security, Country House (Lookin at Lucky), War of Will (War Front) and Sir Winston should all be back next year. Who doesn’t love Jose Ortiz? He’s among the best young riders this sport has ever seen, but the Belmont was not his finest hour. While Joel Rosario on Sir Winston, did a great job saving ground, Ortiz never got anywhere close to the rail with Tacitus (Tapit). According to the Trakus data, Tacitus ran 65 feet further than Sir Winston did. Tacitus was the “fastest” horse in the race, traveling the distance at an average rate of 37.1 miles per hour, as compared to 36.9 for Sir Winston. Obviously, breaking from the 10 post didn’t help, but if he could have ever found a way to get closer to the rail on either turn, Tacitus would have won the race. Not that it mattered since War of Will (War Front) just didn’t have it, but jockey Tyler Gaffalione was another who never got anywhere close to the fence. War of Will traveled 57 feet further than Sir Winston did. When a race is won by a length, which is roughly eight feet, don’t think these things don’t make a difference. Adding to Tacitus’s problems, it appeared that the rail at Belmont was he best part of the racetrack. It wasn’t an overwhelming bias, but with the exception of the GI Woody Stephens S., won by Hog Creek Hustle (Overanalyze), virtually all of the dirt race winners were on or near the rail throughout most of the trip. That might explain how the seemingly overmatched Joevia (Shanghai Bobby) ran third in the Belmont, beaten only 1 3/4 lengths. Jockey Jose Lezcaneo stayed glued to the rail the whole time. This didn’t get much attention, but it should have. Earlier in the week, the New York Gaming Commission announced that New York State Equine Medical Director, Dr. Scott E. Palmer, VMD, and the stewards would be available to address questions from the media regarding incidents, inquiries, objections or rulings that occur during racing in the Belmont Stakes Festival. After the debacle when the Churchill stewards refused to take any questions from the media following the disqualification of Maximum Security and ducked for cover, The NY Gaming Commission and NYRA showed that they get it, that transparency is always important, especially when hundreds of millions of dollars in betting and purse monies are on the line. Hopefully, someone at Churchill was paying attention. The post The Week in Review: After a Breeders’ Cup-Esque Card, Who’s the Best Horse in the Sport? appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

As the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) gave way to a Flo Rida concert, the 2019 Triple Crown faded into the sunset, leaving behind the series' messiest controversy in about 50 years and a slew of unanswered questions. View the full article

As the Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets (G1) gave way to a Flo Rida concert, the 2019 Triple Crown faded into the sunset, leaving behind the series' messiest controversy in about 50 years and a slew of unanswered questions. View the full article

The 2019 Triple Crown belonged to two trainers, one Hall of Famer and one likely soon-to-be Hall of Famer. Now, with the GI Belmont S. in the rearview and attention turning to the second-half push to the Breeders’ Cup, Mark Casse and Bill Mott will assess their respective pairs of championship contenders and map out a probable path to the GI Travers S. Aug. 24 at Saratoga. Tracy Farmer’s Sir Winston (Awesome Again) and the Gary Barber-owned War of Will (War Front) were both tired Sunday morning, but otherwise fine after their trip of 1 1/2 miles around the Belmont oval. Their routine was limited to walking the shedrow and afterward, the Belmont winner settled down for a well-deserved nap in his stall. “Both horses are good this morning,” Casse told the NYRA notes team. “From here they’re going to take separate paths and go their separate ways, but our goal is going to be the Travers for both.” While Sir Winston will remain at Belmont under assistant trainer Jamie Begg’s care, War of Will had a reservation on a van departing at 12:30 p.m. and headed back to Kentucky, where he will return to Casse’s division overseen by assistant David Carroll. War of Will, who finished ninth in the Belmont, was the only horse to run in all three legs of this year’s Triple Crown, but Casse didn’t use that as an excuse for the colt’s poor performance in the Test of the Champion. “I don’t think it was the Triple Crown campaign that caught up to War of Will,” he said. “I don’t really have an explanation for his race yesterday, but I’m not going to use the [three races in] five weeks as an excuse. The only thing I can tell you now is that he will be back.” Casse also reflected on the chaos of this year’s Triple Crown and picking up his first two American Classic victories. “It’s been an extremely good five weeks and a crazy five weeks, with lots of different emotions, that’s for sure,” he said. “We’re extremely proud of it. I’m proud of our entire team, as this has been a team effort through and through.” Meanwhile, Mott, who saddled GI Kentucky Derby winner Country House (Lookin At Lucky) and Derby third finisher and Belmont runner-up Tacitus (Tapit), said both horses will be sent to Saratoga in the next few weeks. He added that Tacitus, who was hindered by a wide trip in the Belmont, may run back in the GII Jim Dandy S. July 27 at the Spa. “Tacitus certainly hasn’t disgraced himself at any point,” Mott said. “Even in the Derby, where he was fourth and then was moved up to third, he ran well. And he ran well yesterday. I think most anybody who saw the race yesterday probably knew that with a different trip the outcome would have been different. For sure there are a lot of dances left in the second half of the year. I hope there are good things still to come for him.” As for Country House, who was forced to miss the final two jewels of the Triple Crown with an illness, Mott said he has returned to the track. “Country House is doing well. He isn’t back breezing yet, but he is back galloping and is going to the track every day,” he said. “Keeping [him and Tacitus] separate is probably going to be impossible. I think that at some point, both are going to be running in the same types of races. If it’s a prep race or something like it, naturally you’d like to separate them, but if it’s a Grade I race, if they need to run against each other, it’s like, you know what? You’ve got to be fair to both ownerships and give them their best chance.” The post Belmont Wrap: Casse, Mott Pairs Look to Travers appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

A Celebration of Life for noted horseman James “J.J.” Crupi is scheduled for Monday, June 10 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company auditorium, 1701 S.W. 60th Avenue, Ocala FL, 34474 at 4:30 p.m. Crupi, who passed away Thursday, May 23 at the age of 79, enjoyed a long, distinguished career in the Thoroughbred industry. After spending years successfully training horses in the Northeast, he went to Ocala in 1995 and established Crupi’s New Castle Training Center, where he was responsible for developing many top class horses, both for the races and sales ring. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to The Ocala Farm Ministry, 489 NW 110th Avenue, Ocala FL 34482, or to the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA), 821 Corporate Drive Lexington, KY 40503. For more information, please call OBS at (352) 237-2154. The post Memorial for Crupi Monday at OBS appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Trainer Chad Brown dominated the standings for the three-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival Championship presented by NYRA Bets at Belmont Park, while Joel Rosario and Klaravich Stables were the top jockey and owner, respectively. View the full article

Bank Holiday Monday sees some black-type action in France and Germany, with the chief attraction being at Cologne where the G2 Union-Rennen separates the wheat from the chaff as far as the Deutsches Derby is concerned. Hedge Baumgarten Holschbach’s Django Freeman (Ger) (Campanologist) bids to follow up his success in the May 1 G3 Bavarian Classic at Munich, with Gestut Ittlingen’s Laccario (Ger) (Scal {GB}) there to test his merit to the full after an impressive win in Dusseldorf’s Listed Derby-Trial on May 26. Gestut Ravensberg’s Winterfuchs (Ger) (Campanologist) captured the G3 Dr. Busch-Memorial over 8 1/2 furlongs at Krefeld on Apr. 28 and has stamina to prove over this 11-furlong trip, but his pedigree suggests it will suit. At ParisLongchamp, the Listed Prix Volterra sees Lady Bamford’s G3 Prix Imprudence runner-up Suphala (Fr) (Frankel {GB}) back in action after finishing ninth in the G1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches over this course and distance on May 12. She is tackled by Haras Voltaire’s unbeaten Alzire (Fr) (Shamardal), while in the feature G3 La Coupe sees Godolphin’s Feb. 21 G3 Dubai Millennium S. scorer Spotify (Fr) (Redoute’s Choice {Aus}) reappear in Europe. Andre Fabre puts Ballymore Thoroughbred Ltd’s G3 Prix de Flore winner Ligne d’Or (GB) (Dansili {GB}) in against the colts, which may be significant. The post Derby Dreams On The Line appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Today’s Observations features a colt out of a Breeders’ Cup winner. 2.00 ParisLongchamp, Mdn, €30,000, 3yo, c/g, 8fT Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Thani’s once-raced FERID (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) is a son of GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf and G1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches heroine Flotilla (Fr) (Mizzen Mast) and comes back for the Mikel Dalzanles stable after running second over nine furlongs at Dieppe last month. Herald Bloodstock’s Indian Pacific (Fr) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) once again lines up in opposition, having finished third in that newcomers’ event, and he is a gelded half-brother to G1 Prix Jean Romanet and G1 Premio Lydia Tesio victress Odeliz (Ire) (Falco) and stakes-winning ‘TDN Rising Star’ Pamplemousse (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}). 6.15 Windsor, Cond, £7,400, 2yo, 5f 21yT Ed Walker trainee DARK SILVER (IRE) (Dark Angel {Ire}) is out of a GSP half-sister to G1 Haydock Sprint Cup victress Pipalong (Ire) (Pips Pride {GB}). The €240,000 Goffs Orby yearling’s year-older full-brother Came From The Dark (Ire), himself a 480,000gns Tattersalls October Book 1 yearling, graduated at Haydock on Saturday and the bay is confronted by eight in this debut. His rivals include Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum’s once-raced Eton College (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), who is a half-brother to last month’s G1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches heroine Castle Lady (Ire) (Shamardal) returning off a seventh over six furlongs at this track last week. The post Observations: June 10, 2019 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

With the kickoff of the American yearling sale season just around the corner, prospective buyers will soon be scrutinizing the progeny of the latest first-season sires. This year’s field is an admittedly tough one; champion 2-year-old and GI Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist (Uncle Mo) led by weanling sale average last year ($208,333), and he was closely pursued by his Darley barnmate Frosted, the brilliant GI Met Mile winner by Tapit. Champion sprinter Runhappy (Super Saver) sat third, followed by global superstar California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit) and GI Preakness S. winner Exaggerator (Curlin). Following these is Air Force Blue (War Front), a name that will be particularly familiar to Europeans but whose racetrack accomplishments were such that they resonated on a global scale and earned him a spot at stud back in the state of his birth. Bred by Arthur Hancock’s Stone Farm, Air Force Blue is out of the listed-placed Chatham (Maria’s Mon), and his third dam, Starlet Storm, produced the American champion 2-year-old filly Flanders (Seeking the Gold), who in turn left the champion 3-year-old filly Surfside (Seattle Slew). MV Magnier snapped up Air Force Blue for $490,000 at Keeneland September in 2014, where he was the fourth-most expensive of 16 sold by his sire. All four of those top-priced colts headed to Europe-three to Ballydoyle and one to France-and indeed War Front was still riding the high of Declaration of War’s wins in the G1 Juddmonte International and G1 Queen Anne S. the year prior, and War Command’s G1 Dewhurst S., G2 Coventry S. and G2 Futurity S. victories. At that time War Front, the dirt sprinter who never ran on the grass, had been boxed into a corner by some as a turf sire that excelled mostly in Europe, but it is interesting to note that the year Air Force Blue was sold as a yearling, all of War Front’s six graded winners came in the U.S., and were headed by dirt Grade I winner Peace and War. Today, War Front has fully justified his proprietors at Claiborne Farm who believed all along he was equally effective on both surfaces; his two Grade I winners thus far in 2019 are of course the American dirt 3-year-olds War of Will and Omaha Beach, and he has exciting 2- and 3-year-olds like Happen, Munitions and Etoile in Ireland and France. War Front has sired 12 Grade I winners in the U.S. and seven Group 1 winners in Europe in all. Air Force Blue is War Front’s third-highest earner and his most accomplished 2-year-old. A May 1 foal, Air Force Blue was a first-out winner at The Curragh on May 24, 2015, and was second to just the seasoned Buratino (Ire) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) in the G2 Coventry S. three weeks later. Air Force Blue wouldn’t be beaten again at two, taking the G1 Phoenix S., G1 National S. and G1 Dewhurst S. It was the first time since 2001 that that triple had been completed, and Air Force Blue wrapped up his juvenile campaign with a Timeform rating of 128p-better than the 126 achieved at two by both Frankel (GB) and Too Darn Hot (GB). “From the very beginning, Aidan O’Brien was very, very, very high on the horse,” recalled Coolmore’s Adrian Wallace. “He was a three-time Group 1 winner at two and the highest-rated 2-year-old that Aidan O’Brien has ever trained, which puts him in pretty rarefied air when you consider how many good 2-year-olds Aidan O’Brien has trained.” “He’s a horse that really ticks a lot of boxes and offers breeders a War Front with a lot of speed, a lot of precocity, and he’s a very, very good-looking horse.” Wallace describes Air Force Blue as “a War Front with a lot of leg,” and he said he is passing his strong body and athleticism onto his progeny. Indeed, Air Force Blue’s first-crop foals, bred on a $25,000 stud fee, averaged over $85,000 at last year’s foal sales. “It was very gratifying to see how well they were received as foals,” Wallace said. “The market took to them very well. Only 20 of them went through the sales as foals. Sixteen out of 20 sold for an average of just over $85,000. And six of them brought over $100,000, so I think the market judged them well. I think we’ll see a good sample again in September and in the next couple of months.” Coolmore and Ballydoyle have been War Front’s biggest supporters at stud, and Wallace said that support has extended to Air Force Blue, and that the blue chip operation has supported the horse with its own mares. “He’s a horse we’ve latched onto ourselves,” Wallace said. “We’ve supported him heavily from the very beginning. We will continue to support him, and we’ll be looking at all his stock in the coming sales.” The post A New Force Among The Stallion Ranks appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

In the aftermath of a fine run in third in Saturday’s GI Met Mile at Belmont Park, trainer Saeed bin Suroor said that dual G1 Dubai World Cup winner Thunder Snow (Ire) (Helmet {Aus}) would be aimed for a return to New York for the GI Whitney H. on Aug. 3 at Saratoga. “Thunder Snow race a huge race and I am happy with him,” bin Suroor said. “He was up against some of the best American milers and will improve for the race. “We will bring him back to England and prepare him to race in America again, with his target being the Grade I Whitney [H.] at Saratoga.” In his first start since successfully defending his Dubai World Cup title on Mar. 30, the 5-year-old Thunder Snow stalked the pace in fourth under Christophe Soumillon on Saturday. Moving down to the rail in the stretch, he hit the line a length behind Mitole (Eskendereya) with McKinzie (Street Sense) rallying late to nip him for second in the final strides. Thunder Snow, a four-time Group 1 winner, has yet to break through in the U.S. but in three other visits Stateside he has also been placed in the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup and the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic. The post American Target For Thunder Snow appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

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Ocean Park gelding Kolding has emerged as the latest New Zealand-bred star for Queensland owner Neville Morgan, extending his winning sequence to four with a brilliant win in Saturday’s Gr.2 Queensland Guineas (1600m) at Eagle Farm. Carrying the same colours as multiple Group One-winning New Zealand-breds Kermadec and Rangirangdoo, Kolding produced an irresistible surge from fourth-last to beat Baccarat Baby by half a length. Adding to the New Zealand flavour of the result, he was trained and ... View the full article

A brilliantly fine day and a huge on-course crowd combined to provide the appropriate farewell to thoroughbred racing at Waimate on Sunday where the Waimate Racing Club ran their last meeting at their home venue. The club has not been issued a licence to hold its annual race meeting during the next season, following the release of the Messara report and New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing's subsequent venue plan. Rather than using the meeting to politicise the issue, the club took the opportunity to... View the full article

Talented jumper Bad Boy Brown booked a place in next month’s Wellington Hurdle (3400m) at Trentham when he outstayed his open-class rivals in Saturday’s feature hurdle contest at the venue. The seven-year-old gelding bided his time at the rear of the field for rider Isaac Lupton before looming into contention approaching the home corner. In a slogging finish on the Heavy11 surface, Lupton brought his mount with a powerful staying run to snatch victory from race favourite Gallante with Guy Fo... View the full article

Cambridge-based trainer Brendon Hawtin achieved one of his career goals when lightly raced four-year-old Simply Optimistic scored a decisive victory over 1200m at Royal Randwick on Saturday. After spending a good part of his youth in Sydney where his father Keith played an integral role in fellow New Zealander Graeme Rogerson’s multi-state training operation, the younger Hawtin had always cherished the thought of returning one day with a horse good enough to compete in the competitive Sydney m... View the full article

Sir Winston delivered a powerful stretch run to win the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) June 8 at Belmont Park. View the full article

Since returning from a lengthy layoff, Marconi has successfully stretched out and taken three consecutive stakes races. The Tapit colt made the grade for the first time June 8 in the $400,000 Woodford Reserve Brooklyn Invitational Stakes (G2). View the full article

Since returning from a lengthy layoff, Marconi has successfully stretched out and taken three consecutive stakes races. The Tapit colt made the grade for the first time June 8 in the $400,000 Woodford Reserve Brooklyn Invitational Stakes (G2). View the full article

A blockbuster Belmont Stakes Day card, highlighted by Sir Winston's victory in the 151st running of the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes (G1), generated all-sources handle of $102,163,280, a NYRA record for a non-Triple Crown year June 8 at Belmont Park. View the full article

Sam-Son Farm's lightly raced homebred Desert Ride, who hails from Canadian champions, kept the family's success rolling when she closed fast to take the US$377,504 Woodbine Oaks Presented by Budweiser June 8. View the full article

Saturday’s GI Belmont S. card generated all-sources handle of $102,163,280, a NYRA record for a non-Triple Crown year. The 2019 all-sources handle figure is an increase of 9.1% over 2017, the most recent year without a Triple Crown on the line, and an increase of 2.8% over the previous record for a non-Triple Crown year set in 2016. On-track handle for the 13-race Belmont Stakes Day card was $11,852,506. All-sources handle on the 151st Belmont S. was $53,237,527 All-sources handle for the three-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, which featured 18 stakes and 33 races in total from Thursday through Saturday, was $131,858,886. For the second time, the 2019 Belmont S. offered separate pool wagering in Japan. The total for this non-commingled pool, which is not included in the all-sources number, was $4,362,972. Paid attendance on Belmont Day was 56,217. The post Belmont Day Handle a Record for Non-Triple Crown Year appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Well, this one isn’t going to go down as one of those memorable Triple Crowns we will still be talking about 30 years from now, will it? No surprise there. From the start, this was the Triple Crown series that just never gelled, that will be remembered more for chaos and odd circumstances than the three horses that won the three races. There was some excitement, but it came in small doses. Is this how soccer fans feel after the final score is nil-nil? Take nothing away from Sir Winston (Awesome Again), who captured the final jewel of the Triple Crown, Saturday’s GI Belmont S., and was, by the way, the only horse in the field who had run a triple-digit Beyer figure. Benefitting from a very good ride by Joel Rosario, he was good enough to win the race and etch his name in the history books. He’s well-bred and improving and don’t be surprised if there is another big win or two left to come on his resume. But he was trainer Mark Casse’s “other” horse. While GI Preakness S. winner War of Will (War Front), who ran so well in the middle leg of the series to prove himself after all the trouble he encountered in the GI Kentucky Derby, received all the attention, hardly anyone noticed that Casse had a second horse in the race. Even the trainer looked a bit bewildered when being interviewed after the race. Certainly, he was happy to have won a Belmont, but his excitement seemed muted. He’s too smart to have said so, but you can be pretty darn certain he didn’t see this one coming, Sir Winston beating War of Will or War of Will finishing ninth. Adding to the omnipresent oddness that hovered over the last five weeks, Sir Winston actually fouled War of Will. It really didn’t matter as War of Will just didn’t have it, and the interference probably cost him no more than a length. Obviously, War of Will’s jockey Tyler Gaffalione was not about to claim foul against a stablemate. It seems like 38 weeks ago and not that 38 days ago that Kentucky Derby favorite Omaha Beach (War Front) was withdrawn from the Derby with an entrapped epiglottis. Maybe we should have figured out that this was some sort of bad omen, but the cast of 3-year-olds eyeing the Triple Crown races still looked like a bunch capable of putting on a good show. Bob Baffert had his usual embarrassment of riches in GI Santa Anita Derby winner Roadster (Quality Road), 2-year-old champion Game Winner (Candy Ride {Arg}) and Grade I winner Improbable (City Zip). After winning last year’s Triple Crown, Baffert didn’t so much as hit the board in any of this year’s three races. Tacitus (Tapit), the winner of the GII Wood Memorial and GII Fountain of Youth winner Code of Honor (Noble Mission {GB}), were both trained by Hall of Famers and also looked like they had the talent to go far. So who wins the Kentucky Derby? It was Country House (Lookin at Lucky), who was 65-1 and the second-longest priced winner in the history of the race. Yet, owners Gary and Mary West still think they own the real Kentucky Derby winner in Maximum Security (New Year’s Day). A horse whose connections either had so little regard for or totally misread his ability, he broke his maiden for $16,000, but turned out to be a very good horse and won the GI Florida Derby for trainer Jason Servis. You know the rest of the story…crosses the wire first in the Derby, the bumping, the disqualification, the lawsuit, West offering a $5-million side bet to any of the owners involved in the Derby controversy if they would accept a race within a race wager that their horse couldn’t beat Maximum Security. Maximum Security needed time afer the Derby and we may not see him again until the GI Haskell Invitational July 20 at Monmouth Park. Country House wasn’t able to make Round Two either as he came down with a virus. Not one of the first four horses that crossed the wire in the Derby returned for the Preakness. That was fine by Casse and owner Gary Barber, whose War of Will showed his toughness to win and showed that he might just have won the Derby if he hadn’t gotten mugged. Yet, the biggest headlines went to Bodexpress (Bodemeister) because he threw John Velazquez at the start and then ran merrily around the track without a jockey on his back. Fast forward to the Belmont. As so often happens, the crop of Triple Crown campaigners was down to bare bones. War of Will, the only horse to run in all three Triple Crown races, and Tacitus looked like the two best horses on paper. Some thought Todd Pletcher could pull a rabbit out of his hat with either Spinoff (Hard Spun) or Intrepid Heart (Tapit) and Sir Winston had sandwiched some good races into between poor ones. It was hard to be inspired by anyone else in the field. The star of the show was as much jockey Joel Rosario as it was Sir Winston. The same jockey who had Game Winner so wide on the far turn in the Kentucky Derby that he knocked over a mint julep resting on the lap of a patron in the first row, he rode a superb race. He saved every inch of ground on both turns before slipping into the three path after the field turned into the stretch. Meanwhile, Gaffalione had War of Will at least three or four paths wide for much of the trip before tipping out into the five path nearing the end of the far turn. On Tacitus, Jose Ortiz took the same overland route. Sir Winston won by a length. Had Ortiz saved any ground, he easily could have won the race. So, who is the sport’s best 3-year-old male? The answer is probably Maximum Security, but who can really say, at least until we get through the Haskell, the GI Travers S. and the GI Pennsylvania Derby? Hopefully, someone will step forward and clean up this mess. The post A Strange Triple Crown Ends with Another Odd Twist appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

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