Belmont Stakes workouts: Orb gallops strongly
ELMONT, N.Y. – All 14 3-year-olds entered for Saturday’s Belmont Stakes were on the grounds Wednesday, with Frac Daddy and Golden Soul the last two to arrive from Churchill Downs the previous day.
For the second consecutive morning, the weather was textbook perfect for training – low humidity, with temperatures in the high 50s to low 60s, and the racetrack fast but not lightning-quick, as it was last week and into the weekend.
Wednesday at Belmont Park
59 degrees, sunny, fast
The cool weather certainly seems to be agreeing with ORB, whose energy level definitely is back to where I’d seen it in the weeks leading up to his victory in the Kentucky Derby. Orb was full of himself from the moment he broke away from the pony near the mile marker at the head of the backstretch, pulling his way through a very strong gallop that concluded with a 15-second eighth-mile split from the wire to the 1 3/8-mile pole approaching the clubhouse turn.
After jogging an easy mile in their first morning on the track here Tuesday, both Preakness winner OXBOW and stablemate WILL TAKE CHARGE were given the opportunity to stretch their legs a bit more Wednesday by trainer D. Wayne Lukas, with both galloping a relatively easy 1 1/8 miles. Oxbow is not the prettiest mover at a jog or gallop, although he did seem to handle the surface relatively well Wednesday.
[BELMONT WORKOUTS: Mike Welsch's clocker reports, workout videos]
Oxbow did have his head cocked to the inside during Wednesday’s session, in contrast to some of his pre-Derby training sessions at Churchill Downs, where he traveled with his head cocked sharply to the outside.
Will Take Charge, a big, strong-looking colt, reached out nicely and seemed to handle the local surface well.
GOLDEN SOUL arrived Tuesday and wasted little time getting a feel for the track. He made a very favorable first impression on local railbirds and gives every indication that he has bounced out of last week’s sharp work at Churchill in good order.
FRAC DADDY turned in the most significant and, to be frank, surprising training session Wednesday. The last of the Belmont contenders to hit the track, shortly after 9:30 a.m., Frac Daddy flew around the 1 1/2-mile oval at better than a two-minute clip before really leveling off once entering the stretch, covering the quarter-mile straight to the finish line in 25.52.
He continued on very strongly past the wire and back into the turn, going 1 1/8 miles in 2:09 and change from the mile pole on my watch. Frac Daddy trained in a similarly energetic manner in the weeks leading up to the Derby but unfortunately was unable to duplicate those efforts over the sloppy track at Churchill in the Derby. Trainer Ken McPeek said he expects Frac Daddy to show big early speed after drawing the rail for the Belmont.
FREEDOM CHILD had another typically long and impressive training session, dragging his rider around a lot more aggressively than he had the previous morning.
[BELMONT STAKES: Live updates and video from Belmont Park]
None of trainer Todd Pletcher’s Belmont quintet did anything more than jog once around the main track. OVERANALYZE looked the best of the Pletcher trio in a second set that included REVOLUTIONARY and PALACE MALICE. Revolutionary appeared a little stiff coming by the grandstand but strode out much more efficiently and showed a much higher energy level the farther he traveled.
INCOGNITO continues to do all his morning work on the training track, where he jogged two miles the wrong way near the outside fence while bouncing along on his toes and eager. He appeared to be eager to do more as he passed by the clocker’s stand and trainer Kiaran McLaughlin the first time around.