It’s not a stretch to suggest what Calvin Borel is to Churchill Downs, John Velazquez is to Belmont Park. Perhaps that experience will give Velazquez an edge over Jesus Castanon when the two square off in Saturday’s $1 million Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the Triple Crown. Velazquez, 39, will ride Animal Kingdom, the Kentucky Derby winner.
After more than two decades of watching other jockeys prosper on the kind of horses he always believed he could win on, Jesus Castanon finally saw his perseverance pay off when he guided Shackleford to victory in the May 21 Preakness at Pimlico. And when the 143rd Belmont Stakes is run Saturday in New York, Castanon, 38, a native of Mexico City, could be a pivotal figure once again when Shackleford will be the horse to catch.
WinStar Farm's program for fans, StableMates, has launched a new contest. Called PowerFecta, the free contest challenges fans to pick the exact order of finish for every horse running in Saturday's Belmont Stakes.
In the span of five weeks, owner Mike Repole has gone from sought after to afterthought. As the Triple Crown season concludes with Saturday’s 143rd running of the Belmont Stakes, Repole has an opportunity to return to the headlines if longshot Stay Thirsty can upset Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom, Preakness winner Shackleford, and several other more high-profile contenders in the 1 1/2-mile classic.
Trainer Doodnauth Shivmangal had seriously considered running recent allowance winner Harlan’s Hello in the Belmont, but ultimately passed in part because he didn’t want to run two horses in the race. Shivmangal entered Isn’t He Perfect instead.
For the first time since 1993, the Belmont Stakes will be run without a horse from the barn of trainers Bob Baffert, D. Wayne Lukas, or Nick Zito. That trio of Hall of Fame trainers has combined to win seven of the 17 Belmonts run since 1994, with Lukas winning four, Zito two, and Baffert one.
Entering Wednesday, trainer Todd Pletcher had won 2,833 races in his career, but there’s one victory that stands out above the rest – Rags to Riches’s head victory over Curlin in the 2007 Belmont Stakes.
With a 13-race card Saturday at Belmont Park, there will be plenty of wagering opportunities, including a trio of pick-four wagers. The pick-fours will begin on races 2, 8, and 10. The all stakes pick-four that begins with race 8 will have a guaranteed pool of $1 million and consist of the Just a Game, Woody Stephens, Manhattan, and conclude with the Belmont Stakes.
Despite the fact there is no Triple Crown on the line, New York Racing Association officials are hopeful Saturday’s Belmont Stakes can draw a crowd of between 60,000 and 65,000 fans to Belmont Park.
Master of Hounds arrived just days before the Kentucky Derby, then left town the day after his fifth-place finish in the race, bound for his home in Ireland, where he has been out of sight in the weeks leading to the Belmont Stakes on Saturday. Just what has he been doing?
