Tag Archive for: Belmont Stakes

Osborne takes Heart from Preakness run ahead of Belmont bid

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Saffie Osborne has hailed taking part in the Preakness Stakes as “an amazing experience” and she is hoping Heart Of Honor can step up on his Pimlico fifth in next month’s Belmont Stakes.

Having recovered from a slow start to make some late headway behind Journalism in the middle leg of America’s Triple Crown, the Jamie Osborne-trained colt will now head to Saratoga on June 7.

“He ran a good race considering the circumstances. He wasn’t the quickest into stride and we were always slightly on the back foot against those sharper American horses, especially on a real pace-oriented track,” Saffie Osborne told Sky Sports Racing.

“But he ran with a lot of credit and hopefully onto Saratoga now for the Belmont.

“He hit the line really well and obviously you’ve got a bit more distance in the Belmont, which should help him.”

Heart Of Honor made his first start at Southwell last October and then ran five times at Meydan, finishing a close second in the UAE Derby, before being pitched in at the deep end on his American debut.

Osborne added: “They are so tuned up at the gates and that’s probably something that he’s just lacking at the moment, but hopefully he can do a bit of homework and work on that in the next three weeks.

“Obviously, it was a tricky preparation for him, shipping back from Dubai, having been there for five months, and then being in England and acclimatising back to that and then shipping out to America last week.

“So, I’d like to think that three weeks’ training on the dirt back at the track would just help bring him forward a little bit.

“He obviously stays out there but I’ll probably go a couple of days before it, as it’s a busy time here for us, so I don’t want to be there too long, but I absolutely loved riding in America.

“Everyone was so welcoming and it was an amazing experience to be sat in the jockeys’ room next to Irad Ortiz and Johnny Velazquez, it was a real sort of surreal moment.

“It was an honour and a privilege to be a part of it.

“The whole day was an amazing experience and I’ve never really walked away from a racecourse having finished fifth in a race and just looked back on the day and thought it was amazing.

“America and NBC and everyone put on an amazing show and the whole build-up to the race was incredible.”

Unheralded Dornoch springs Belmont Stakes surprise

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Dornoch stayed on strongly from his prominent position to cause a shock in the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga.

Both Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan and Preakness scorer Seize The Grey were amongst the 10-strong field for the final leg of the US Triple Crown – which this year was run over two furlongs less than its usual mile-and-a-half distance while Belmont Park is redeveloped.

However, neither of those prior victors could land a blow as Danny Gargan’s game son of Good Magic showed a willing attitude to hold off Todd Pletcher’s Mindframe in the hands of Luis Saez.

It was the biggest success of Gargan’s career and he told Bloodhorse.com: “You never think you’re going to be a kid from the south end of Louisville who wins this kind of race.

“Anybody who can win a Triple Crown race from where I grew up has to work their whole life to do it.”

The winner is co-owned by former Major League Baseball star Jayson Werth.

Werth tasted World Series success with the Philadelphia Phillies and cut a delighted figure as he reached the pinnacle of achievement in another sport.

Luis Saez celebrates aboard Dornoch
Luis Saez celebrates aboard Dornoch (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

He said: “I’ll put it up there with anything I’ve ever done.

“Horse racing is the most underrated sport there is. This is as big as it gets. It’s the same emotions you feel when you play a play-off game, when you win a World Series game and arguably when you win a World Series.”

The Coolmore partners’ Kentucky Derby runner-up Sierra Leone was a staying-on third and beaten only a length and a half, having had plenty of ground to make up entering the home straight.

Stall one, but legend Lukas expecting big Seize The Grey run in Belmont

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D. Wayne Lukas is backing Seize The Grey to emulate City Of Troy by overcoming a tricky stall one draw in Saturday night’s Belmont Stakes.

Ryan Moore managed to skilfully negotiate a safe passage around Epsom in the Derby from an inside perch on Aidan O’Brien’s superstar and Jaime Torres faces a similar test at Saratoga.

“If I had to choose a post, I wouldn’t choose post one but it’s not a dealbreaker by any means,” Lukas told the New York Racing Association.

“With our tactical speed and everything else we have going for us, it’s no big deal.”

Lukas enjoyed the last of his four Belmont Stakes winners back in 2000 with Commendable, having previously claimed a hat-trick of victories with Tabasco Cat, Thunder Gulch and Editor’s Note in the mid-1990s.

The final leg of America’s Triple Crown has a temporary home at Saratoga, but Seize The Grey has the benefit of two previous outings at the track, including a win there on his juvenile debut.

“Even though that was a long time ago, he showed that he got over the racetrack here very well,” noted Lukas.

The son of Arrogate has already had a busy campaign in 2024, with last month’s Preakness Stakes defeat of Mystik Dan being his fifth start of the year.

That followed a Group Two Pat Day Mile Stakes triumph at Churchill Downs on the Kentucky Derby undercard, but Lukas is confident his charge can cope with such a hectic schedule.

The 88-year-old training legend said: “Fitness-wise, when you’re in the Triple Crown series, that’s almost a given.

“Every one of the trainers that pursue that avenue over the years are pretty much convinced they’ve got them fit.

“The part that changes is the mental aspect of it…you have to have one that mentally doesn’t fall apart on you coming back in two weeks.

“A lot of horses don’t fall apart because they’re tired – some of them do, some of them tuck up – but it’s usually a horse that worries about racing that doesn’t make the two weeks.

Belmont Stakes Horse Racing
Trainer D Wayne Lukas (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

“A horse that is mentally comfortable in his own skin is going to come back in two weeks. That’s the thing as a trainer that is so overlooked.”

Seize The Grey has so far proven himself up to the task and Lukas believes there could even be a little bit more improvement left under the bonnet.

He declared: “I felt I had him really good for the Preakness and I was pretty right. I’m not so sure I don’t have him a little further down the basepath for this one.

“I’m watching him mentally the last two weeks… there’s no reason why we won’t get that same effort or better. No reason at all. We might walk over there and get a better effort.”