Belmont Clocker: Exaggerator stretches legs in 1 3/4-mile gallop

Belmont Park
Weather: Clear
Track: Fast
Temperature: 73 degrees

ELMONT, N.Y. – With Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist out of the picture, Preakness hero Exaggerator will garner most of the attention here in the final 12 days leading to the Belmont Stakes.

Such was the case Tuesday, when Exaggerator’s connections let him stretch his legs a bit on a warm, muggy morning at Belmont Park, where the racetrack had dried nicely and was rated fast after being soaked by rain 24 hours earlier.

Exaggerator came out a trifle later than expected, at least 15 minutes after the track re-opened for training following the renovation break at 8:45 a.m. He backed up to the eighth pole, reversed direction and was not only a little warm but noticeably rank once passing the wire and entering the clubhouse turn.

Exaggerator responded to a bit of prodding near the half-mile pole, picking up the pace to a two-minute lick (a 15-second eighth-mile). He then accelerated even farther down the stretch, tossing in a 13.45 split from the eighth pole to the wire before completing the final half-mile of a 1 3/4-mile gallop a furlong beyond the finish line in 56.50.

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It is easy to excuse that Exaggerator got a little hot on a muggy morning, although the majority of the horses that trained Tuesday did not. He also had an excuse to be slightly anxious, after having done relatively little, from a training standpoint, in the nine days since his Preakness victory. But to horseplayers, there is always the nagging question of whether his two huge performances in the Derby and Preakness might have taken even the slightest toll. That’s why his every move will be scrutinized right up until he goes into the starting gate as the likely Belmont Stakes favorite.

Lani may once again go postward among the outsiders in the third and final leg of this year’s Triple Crown. But like Exaggerator, he has become a center for some attention during training hours at Belmont.

Lani hit the track just before 6:45 Tuesday morning and did not leave until 7:20 a.m., covering five miles during his 35-minute stay, three at a regular gallop.

Lani appeared a lot calmer and more professional than he had training up to the Kentucky Derby. He barely seemed to break a sweat, despite posting a steady series of 16- and 17-second eighth-mile splits and galloping twice around the 1 1/2-mile oval before making another full circuit while taking his sweet time walking back home.

Governor Malibu was the first of the Belmont Stakes horses to train Tuesday, stepping out on the track shortly after 6 a.m. After standing several minutes, he jogged seven furlongs clockwise on the outside fence before reversing direction and galloping 1 1/2 miles. This is the same routine his trainer, Christophe Clement, used so successfully with Tonalist prior to his Belmont Stakes victory two years earlier.

Trainer Todd Pletcher sent his two potential Belmont Stakes starters Destin and Stradivari to the training track, as usual, for routine gallops. Destin got a little hot, which is typical for him, but showed a good amount of energy during the latter stages of Tuesday’s training session. While Destin is a confirmed starter, Stradivari’s Belmont status may not be determined until after his scheduled work here Friday.