Belmont clocker: Sir Winston, Bourbon War gallop out strongly

ELMONT, N.Y. – Rainy weather throughout the area has put a damper on training hours the past couple of mornings at Belmont Park, with the main track especially quiet here Thursday and Friday.

Although the rain had cleared out and the skies were sunny when the main and training tracks opened at 5:30 a.m. on Friday, the conditions prompted trainer Todd Pletcher to postpone final Belmont Stakes works for INTREPID HEART and SPINOFF until Saturday. His colleagues Mark Casse and Mark Hennig went ahead as planned and breezed Belmont contenders SIR WINSTON and BOURBON WAR over a track designated as “good” shortly after the renovation break.

With jockey Joel Rosario aboard, Sir Winston took his sweet time jogging from the wire around to the half-mile marker, where he broke off in leisurely fashion and proceeded to breeze a maintenance-like four furlongs in 25.31 seconds, 50.34, picking up the pace down the home stretch while on his own throughout. The steadily improving Sir Winston, the runner-up with a career-best 100 Beyer Speed Figure in the Peter Pan, did his best running on the gallop-out, continuing another quarter-mile in 1:02.70 and 1:15.72 into the clubhouse turn before easing up after seven furlongs in 1:30.27.

Sir Winston has made a positive impression in his last two works and during routine morning gallops and obviously has a fondness for the local strip. He could be sitting on another improved performance.

Hennig tossed Bourbon War’s hat into the Belmont Stakes ring after breezing him four furlongs in 48.81 on Friday. Bourbon War, working without the blinkers he wore for the first time in the Preakness, posted a quarter-mile split of 24.20 and, like Sir Winston, was strong on the gallop-out, completing five-eighths under some prodding in 1:01.16 before easing up three-quarters in 1:13.59. He did have his head cocked out from the top of the stretch to the wire.

The training track was the surface of choice on Friday for the remainder of the prospective Belmont starters stabled on the grounds, although MASTER FENCER, as usual, paid a visit to both tracks when returning to training following a most eventful work on Wednesday. Master Fencer, who stumbled late in that seven-furlong breeze, did little more than jog alongside a pony sans bell boots and while seemingly happy and none the worse for wear during his easy 15-minute session on the main track.