Belmont Stakes: Pletcher giving Audible rest, readying Noble Indy, Vino Rosso

ELMONT, N.Y. – Audible, deemed by many the biggest threat to derail Justify’s bid for a Triple Crown, will not run in the June 9 Belmont Stakes, his connections announced Friday.

Trainer Todd Pletcher said he does not feel that Audible, the Grade 1 Florida Derby winner, is training the way he was prior to the Kentucky Derby, where he finished third, and plans call for him to be freshened for a summer campaign that could begin in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga on July 28.

“I don’t feel like he’s where he needs to be to feel like he’s going to win the Belmont,” Pletcher, who has won the Belmont Stakes three times, said Friday outside his Belmont Park barn. “His energy level has not been quite the same. He’s not moving quite as freely.”

Pletcher said that for a few weeks after the Derby, Audible had been training over sloppy tracks. But in the last week, over dry surfaces, he hasn’t seen improvement in the colt’s training. On Friday at Belmont, Pletcher canceled a scheduled workout, and Audible simply galloped over the main track.

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Elliott Walden, president and chief executive of WinStar Farm, which shares ownership of both Justify and Audible, said the decision not to run Audible was Pletcher’s and was not made because Justify is going for the Triple Crown.

Walden, who was at Belmont on Friday, went as far as to say he was “on board” with running Audible against Justify if the horse was doing well enough to participate.

“I’ve said it all along, you can’t manipulate these things,” Walden said. “If Justify’s supposed to be a Triple Crown winner, he’ll be a Triple Crown winner, and if he’s not, then it wasn’t meant to be.”

That same rationale led WinStar to run Quip in the Preakness, Walden said. Moreover, Walden said he’s on board with running Noble Indy in the Belmont Stakes, something Pletcher said he is inclined to do after watching Noble Indy work Friday. WinStar owns Noble Indy, the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby winner who finished 17th in the Kentucky Derby, in equal partnership with Mike Repole, who also has Vino Rosso for the Belmont Stakes.

As both Justify and Noble Indy have done their best running from on or close to the pace, Walden said he has discussed with Repole that Noble Indy would not be used to put pressure on Justify to aid the late-running Vino Rosso, whom Repole owns with Vinnie Viola.

“He’s not going to be used as a rabbit,” Walden said. “From that standpoint, Mike’s on board, I’m on board. I don’t think it really matters anyway. Justify went head-and-head with the 2-year-old champion [Good Magic] for seven-eighths of a mile, looked him straight in the eye and won anyway. If [Justify] runs his race, we’ll be good.”

On Friday, Noble Indy and Vino Rosso worked a half-mile over the Belmont main track together in 47.08 seconds, according to Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Welsch. Vino Rosso, with John Velazquez up, started about three-quarters of a length behind Noble Indy, under Javier Castellano, and the two finished on even terms. Welsch caught the duo galloping out five furlongs in 59.93 seconds and six furlongs in 1:13.04.

Regarding Noble Indy, Pletcher said, “I thought this morning was the best I’ve seen him go.”

While the work was a little faster than Pletcher said he was looking for, he called it the “right kind of fast work.”

“It was done easily, and it didn’t seem to stress either horse, and they both seemed to come to the wire full of energy, and they both seemed to gallop out strongly,” he said.

Both Vino Rosso and Noble Indy worked without the blinkers they had worn in their most recent races. Pletcher said he is considering removing the blinkers from Noble Indy for the race.

◗ At Saratoga, Hofburg, the ninth-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby, worked six furlongs in 1:13.43, according to New York Racing Association clocker Dave Norton.

Starting at the half-mile pole, Hofburg began a couple of lengths in front of Forge and went in splits of 12.34 seconds, 24.46, 48.30, and 1:00.78, and he galloped out seven furlongs in 1:29.48.

“We had a real good work,” trainer Bill Mott said. “I thought he went into the Derby really well. I think he’s doing really well now. That was intended to be our stiffest work.”

◗ At Churchill Downs, Justify went through another uneventful training session amid perfect weather Friday. The colt was first out on a freshly harrowed surface at 7:30 a.m. before proceeding through a gallop of a little more than 1 1/2 miles in his second day of training since the May 19 Preakness.

“Very good,” said Jimmy Barnes, assistant to trainer Bob Baffert. “Did exactly what Bob told me to do, take it real easy with him.”

Baffert is expected to travel to Churchill Downs this weekend from his California home to oversee training for at least several mornings.

– additional reporting by Mike Welsch and Marty McGee

PROSPECTIVE BELMONT STAKES FIELD

HORSE	TRAINER	JOCKEY	LAST RACE/FINISH
Bandua	Dermot Weld	TBD	Allowance - 1st (Cork - IRE)
Blended Citizen	Doug O'Neill	Kyle Frey	Peter Pan Stakes - 1st (BEL)
Bravazo	D. Wayne Lukas	Luis Saez	Preakness - 2nd (PIM)
Free Drop Billy	Dale Romans	TBD	Kentucky Derby - 16th (CD)
Gronkowski	Chad Brown	TBD	Burradon Stakes - 1st (Newcastle - ENG)
Hofburg	Bill Mott	Irad Ortiz Jr.	Kentucky Derby - 7th (CD)
Justify	Bob Baffert	Mike Smith	Preakness - 1st (PIM)
Noble Indy	Todd Pletcher	Javier Castellano	Kentucky Derby - 17th (CD)
Restoring Hope	Bob Baffert	Flavien Prat	Pat Day Mile - 12th (CD)
Seahenge	Aidan O'Brien	TBD	Pat Day Mile - 7th (CD)
Tenfold	Steve Asmussen	Ricardo Santana Jr.	Preakness - 3rd (PIM)
Vino Rosso	Todd Pletcher	John Velazquez	Kentucky Derby - 9th (CD)