Belmont: I'll Have Another stays calm during traffic-delayed journey
ELMONT, N.Y. - After two trouble-free trips winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, I’ll Have Another on Sunday encountered a traffic-filled journey from Pimlico to Belmont Park, where on June 9 he will attempt to win the Belmont Stakes and become Thoroughbred racing’s 12th Triple Crown winner.
Due mainly to an accident on the New Jersey Turnpike, it took I’ll Have Another nearly 5 1/2 hours to van from Pimlico. The trip usually takes around four hours.
I’ll Have Another, along with three stablemates and stable pony Lava Man, arrived at Belmont at about 2:45 p.m. They took up residence in Barn 9, which houses horses trained by Mark Hennig and is the closest one to Belmont’s main track.
“We kind of got held up for about an hour and a half,” said assistant trainer Jack Sisterson, who accompanied the horses on the van ride to Belmont. “The horses were just looking out the window the whole time. Him and Lava Man were together and they were just chatting away the whole time.”
Sisterson said it was not yet determined when I’ll Have Another would go back to the track. I’ll Have Another would definitely just walk the shed row on Monday.
“We’ll see how he is tomorrow,” Sisterson said. “We’ll walk him tomorrow and take it from there.”
Doug O’Neill, the trainer of I’ll Have Another, flew from Baltimore to his home in Southern California on Sunday and is expected to come to New York over the weekend.