Belmont Stakes 2021: Rombauer arrives at Belmont Park
ELMONT, N.Y. – Rombauer, the Preakness winner, arrived just before 10 a.m. Monday at Belmont Park where he will soon begin preparations for an expected start in the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes on June 5.
Whereas Rombauer defeated nine opponents in the Preakness – three of whom had run in the Kentucky Derby – he could face a significantly larger field in the Belmont, including a bevy of horses who ran in the Derby but skipped the Preakness.
Though Michael McCarthy, the trainer of Rombauer, is very close to trainer Todd Pletcher for whom he worked as an assistant for more than a decade, Rombauer did not ship into Pletcher’s Belmont Park barn. Instead, Rombauer was bedded down in barn 45, where Jonathan Thomas – another former Pletcher assistant – is stabled.
Acknowledging that Pletcher could have several Belmont Stakes runners – possibly including the undefeated filly Malathaat – McCarthy said he opted not to even ask his former boss for a stall.
“I’d love to, but I just don’t think it’s probably the right thing to do, especially with the filly, if she’s going to run in the Belmont,” McCarthy said Sunday at Pimlico. “I’d prefer not to upset the apple cart.”
McCarthy worked for Pletcher in 2007 when they won they Belmont with the filly Rags to Riches, who beat Preakness winner Curlin by a head in an epic race.
Malathaat, like Rags to Riches, is coming off a victory in the Kentucky Oaks. Pletcher said he agonized until nearly entry time whether to run Rags to Riches, finally green-lighting it when Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense defected. This year’s Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Spirit, is expected to return to Southern California later this week after his third in the Preakness.
Unlike Rags to Riches, Malathaat would enter the Belmont having won all five of her starts.
“She’s unbeaten,” Pletcher said. “Not that you manage defensively, you also don’t want to put her in a situation that compromises her moving forward.”
Other potential spots for Malathaat would be the Grade 2 Mother Goose at Belmont on June 26 or the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga on July 24.
Pletcher has won the Belmont three times and finished second in it six more. He has run multiple horses 10 times in the Belmont, including five in 2013 when he won it with Palace Malice.
Pletcher again has many candidates for this year’s Belmont. The horses Pletcher seems almost certain to run are Known Agenda and Bourbonic, who finished ninth and 13th, respectively, in the Kentucky Derby. In addition to Malathaat, possible starters from Pletcher include Promise Keeper and Overtook, first and third in the Peter Pan on May 8.
Bourbonic and Known Agenda returned to the work tab last Friday. Noting how well Known Agenda worked, Pletcher said, “I wonder if I should have taken him to Pimlico. We kind of committed to focusing on the Belmont and take our best shot at it.”
Pletcher felt Known Agenda “ran a sneaky-good race in the Derby,” but just got shuffled back farther than he hoped coming under the wire the first time.
Bourbonic, the Wood Memorial winner, will likely drop back and come with one late run in the Belmont.
One of the Derby horses who skipped the Preakness and who is possible for the Belmont is Essential Quality, the champion 2-year-old of 2020 who finished fourth in the Derby.
Essential Quality returned to the work tab last Saturday at Churchill Downs. Trainer Brad Cox said no decision had been made on his next start.
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On Monday, however, Jimmy Bell, the president of Godolphin’s U.S. operation, via text, said, “Essential Quality had his first post Derby work this weekend and we will follow him along with an eye to the Belmont.”
Godolphin also has UAE Derby winner Rebel’s Romance pointing to the Belmont. That horse, trained by Charles Appleby, has been stabled at Belmont for two weeks. He is likely to have a proper workout this coming weekend.
Other Kentucky Derby starters who skipped the Preakness and are likely to run in the Belmont are Hot Rod Charlie (third in the Derby), Brooklyn Strong (15th) and Rock Your World (17th).
Midnight Bourbon and Keepmeinmind, who ran second and fourth in the Preakness after finishing sixth and seventh in the Kentucky Derby, both vanned back to Churchill Downs. Both are under consideration for the Belmont, though no final decision has been made.
France Go de Ina, seventh in the Preakness, is definite for the Belmont while Get Her Number, fourth in the Arkansas Derby, is possible, according to trainer Peter Miller. Get Her Number defeated Rombauer by three-quarters of a length in the Grade 1 American Pharoah last September at Del Mar.