From start to finish, the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course delivered just about everything horseplayers and racing fans could hope for – despite heavy rains that affected weekend turf races and forced changes in betting options.
Of course, the rematch between Sovereignty and Journalism in the 157thBelmont Stakes (G1) was headliner during the five-day festival, with Kentucky Derby winner (G1) Sovereignty charging past Preakness Stakes winner (G1) Journalism in the stretch for a three-length victory in the highly-anticipated rematch.
The final leg of the Triple Crown lived up to its billing – and went beyond. Sovereignty, held out of the Preakness Stakes to end any chance of a Triple try, became the first horse to pull off a Derby-Belmont double since Thunder Gulch in 1995. Journalism, the Preakness winner, ran second in the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes.
What does it all mean going forward? It could be the beginning of a beautiful rivalry as long as these 3-year-old stars remain in good form.
Listening to their trainers (Bill Mott, Sovereignty; Michael McCarthy, Journalism), it sounds like the dynamic duo could meet three more times this year – in the Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) on July 26 and the Travers Stakes (G1) on Aug. 23, both at Saratoga, and eventually in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) at Del Mar on Nov. 1.
“I think we are very lucky, if we are talking about the Travers, we’ll probably stay here until then. I think we would probably run in the Jim Dandy,” Mott, who lives in Saratoga, said the day after the race. “I think that’s a good possibility. Surely, it’s not set in stone. It’s here. This is all depending on him, what he’s doing, and what the next couple of months brings.”
McCarthy, based in California, will return home with Journalism, and get his warrior – the only horse to run in all three Triple Crown races this year – ready to go again.
“We’ll get him back to California, let him get his feet underneath him and see where we’re at in a couple weeks’ time,” McCarthy said. “I hope everybody stays healthy and we can all find ourselves in the starting gate for a Breeders’ Cup Classic type of thing, maybe back here for the Jim Dandy and Travers. There’s a lot of races in play. We’ll take it week by week with him now.”
Before and after the Belmont, there were quite a few stellar performances mixed with a few surprises – topped by previously unbeaten Good Cheer finishing fifth behind La Cara over a sloppy track in the Acorn Stakes (G1) on Friday.
A most heartwarming story played out on the first and last day of the festival. Eleven days after the untimely death of his father, the renowned trainer Christophe Clement, son Miguel saddled his first winner (Coach Creed) as the stable’s head trainer on Thursday (June 4).
On Sunday, in the final race of the festival, Clement’s Deterministic ($13.60) went gate-wire and won the rain-delayed $1 million Manhattan Stakes (G1) over the turf (Far Bridge was third for Clement). Dad won the Manhattan three times – with Forbidden Apple, 2001; Gio Ponti, 2009; and Winchester, 2010.
“It is beyond emotional the last two weeks to be honest with you,” Clement said after the Manhattan. “Both professionally and personally. A massive emptiness to win this race without my Dad, but life goes on.
“I'm very fortunate and very lucky we have a great team. Very much Dad's legacy. I thought both Deterministic and Far Bridge ran gallantly today, to be honest. The cutback in distance was probably beneficial to Deterministic. He's top class. There's nothing else to be said.”
A pair of Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In’’ races saw Raging Torrent ($18) upset favorite Fierceness and White Abarrio in the $1 million Metropolitan Handicap (G1) on Saturday (for a fees-paid spot in the BC Dirt Mile at Del Mar), and 5-year-old mare Ag Bullett ($7.70) beat the boys in the $500,000 Jaipur Stakes (G1) on Sunday (for a fees-paid spot in the BC Turf Sprint).
Patch Adams ($8.80) topped the Derby also-rans Madaket Road and Citizen Bull, as well as Chancer McPatrick, and won the Woody Stephens Stakes (G1).
The popular Book’em Danno ($6.60) ran down Mullikin in the final 70 yards and won the True North Stakes.
Ways and Means ($3) rolled to a 7 ¾-length victory in the Bed o’ Roses Stakes (G2), the 4-year-old fillies fourth win in five career starts at Saratoga.
Dorth Vader ($19.60) embraced the sloppy/sealed track and won the Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1); and Parchment Party ($16), who got into the race off the also-eligible list, won the Belmont Gold Cup Stakes that was moved from the turf to the dirt and shortened from 2 miles to 1 ¾ miles.
Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez had a banner Belmont Stakes racing festival, winning nine races from June 4-8, including three Grade 1s – the Ogden Phipps aboard Dorth Vader and the New York with She Feels Pretty on Friday (June 6) and the Jaipur with Ag Bullett on Sunday (June 8). He also won the Pennine Ridge (A.P. Kid) and the Belmont Gold Cup (Parchment Party).
His nine wins came for nine different trainers.
He finished second in five races, including the Met Mile (Fierceness), the Woody Stephens (Madaket Road), the Jersey Girl Stakes (Long Neck Paula), and the Manhattan (Integration).
