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Prince of Wales Stakes Del Mar Futurity Del Mar Debutante Pacific Classic Day Pat O'Brien Stakes |
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 Jockey Luis Saez celebrates aboard Dornoch after winning his second Belmont Stakes | |
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The $2 million Belmont Stakes (G1) presented by NYRA Bets will be run at Saratoga for at least two years as Belmont Park is being rebuilt. Due to Saratoga's 1 1/8 mile configuration and narrow turns the "Test of the Champion" is shortened to 1 1/4 miles, the same distance as the Kentucky Derby and the Travers Stakes. Conditions were typical for early June in Saratoga Springs, with the over 50,000 fans in attendance enjoying cloudy skies, temperatures in the high 60's, the main track fast and both turf courses firm. All-sources handle for the Belmont Stakes, which was carded as Race 12, was $60,904,557.
 Down the stretch with Dornoch (center), Mindframe (outside), and Sierra Leone (rail). |
Jockey Jaime Torres sent Seize the Grey to the lead first time by and he set fractions of 22.99, 47.25 and 1:10.67 while pressed by 17-1 Dornoch and stalked by Mindframe. On the far turn Seize the Grey tired allowing Dornoch to inherit the lead through 1 mile in 1:35.51. Mindframe briefly challenged at the 1/8 pole but Dornoch, confidently ridden by Luis Saez, put him away late to win by 1/2 a length in 2:01.64. It was a length back to late-running favorite Sierra Leone third.
Pgm Horse Jockey Win Place Show 6 Dornoch Saez 37.80 17.60 8.10 10 Mindframe Ortiz Jr. 6.80 4.20 9 Sierra Leone Prat 2.60 Winning Time: 2:01.64 $1 Exacta 6-10 163.24 $1 Trifecta 6-10-9 473.00 $1 Superfecta 6-10-9-8 3,200.50 |
Left: Dornoch in the winner's circle. Winning co-owner Randy Hill said, "Nobody ever wake me up. I'll be damn mad. Let me keep dreaming. I said to my parents, to Danny [Gargan], and Luis [Saez], 'Let's run our race today, let's get the lead, and if anybody can beat us, let them come and get us.'”
Right: The trophy celebration for the Belmont Stakes. Winning co-owner Jayson Werth added, "I didn't do anything. That's what these guys are for. I've got good partners and a good trainer, and a great horse. I'll put this up there with anything I've ever done. This is the top of sports. Horse racing is the most underrated sport there is. This is as big as it gets. The emotions you feel when you play in a playoff game, when you win a World Series game, it is the top of sports, and this is where we're at."
Left: Luis Saez celebrates aboard Dornoch after the Belmont Stakes. Saez said, "He's a horse that really has a big heart and man, he ran the perfect race. You are always going to have a Plan B. The plan was to try to take the lead, but we couldn't. We were in the perfect spot so I just let him be comfortable. He did what he was supposed to do. He finished pretty well. At that point, I thought (Mindframe) was going to beat us. But Dornoch, he kept finding. He never let the other one get by. Pretty nice horse, big heart."
Right: Dornoch heads to the winner's circle. Winning trainer Danny Gargan said, :It's a special thing just to be a part of these races, not to mention to win one with a horse you bought at Keeneland and have had it for its whole [racing] life. I spend so much time with him and my staff has done such a great job with him. He's not an easy horse to train and it's not easy to get in this kind of situation. I've been blessed to have the right owners. Randy [Hill] has been with me since the beginning. He and Dan Reeves wanted me to start training 2-year-olds and focus on them instead of the claiming game, and I have to thank them."
Left: The jockeys pose for a group shot before the 156th Belmont Stakes. Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard runner-up Mindframe said, "It was beautiful. A great trip. For a second, I thought I was going to get there. It's only his third start, so he showed a lot. He had only a little experience but these horses, they've been running everywhere, and had a lot more races than him. I think it was a great effort from him.”
Right: The horses break from the gate for the Belmont Stakes. Jaime Torres aboard pacesetter and seventh place finisher Seize the Grey (post 1) said, "Maybe he didn't like the different kind of surface, but he also had Dornoch on his neck the whole time. We were travelling well, but at the end, he just didn't give me any more."
Left: Second place finisher Mindframe races in third around the clubhouse turn. Trainer Todd Pletcher said, "It's just his third start and first time at this distance. First time he's really been challenged; all the things we were concerned about. If he could have run a straight course down the lane, that would have been the difference. Irad felt like he just lost that little bit of focus. He was still coming at the end. It verifies what we thought of him. He showed so much talent in those two races but now we had to test him and see where he fit with the big horses.”
Right: Third place finisher and beaten favorite Sierra Leone works out on June 5th. Jockey Flavien Prat said, "I got bumped out of there [the gate], but then they were going quite fast, so I was happy where I was. I wish I could've got myself a little closer down the backside, but I was not able, the horse inside of me kept pushing me out. I wish I could've just cleared him and then get going. I was not able to do that so we got to the turn; I took a peek back at the inside and then he came running but just ran out of ground.”
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