Belmont Stakes: Romans works Cherry Wine, Brody's Cause
To this point, Brody’s Cause and Cherry Wine have performed at their best in races where the pace was swift and they could sit back and make one run.
David GreningJun 04, 2016
To this point, Brody’s Cause and Cherry Wine have performed at their best in races where the pace was swift and they could sit back and make one run.
Finally, some serious action to report on the Belmont Stakes watch, with three of the eight potential starters on the grounds working Friday, and the other five visiting the racetrack for varying degrees of exercise.
While he didn't win the Preakness, Stradivari ran well enough in trainer Todd Pletcher's eyes to prove he belonged competing at this level. Pletcher wanted to run Stradivari back in the Belmont Stakes. He just needed cooperation from the horse and the blessing of his owners. Pletcher got what he was looking for Friday.
Most of the horses contesting the 2016 Triple Crown series arrived at the barns of their trainers roughly a calendar year ago as 2-year-olds almost ready to begin their careers. However, trainer Dale Romans has known his Preakness Stakes runner-up and Belmont Stakes contender Cherry Wine much longer, with nearly two decades of association with the colt's family – and even longer with his human connections.
It was a relatively quiet morning on the Belmont Stakes watch here Thursday, with the favorite, Exaggerator, getting a day off from training, Lani doing little more than walking after having breezed the previous day, and a trio of recent arrivals – Preakness runner-up Cherry Wine, his stablemate Brody's Cause, and Creator – all getting themselves acclimated to their new surroundings.
As one of the sharpest jockey agents in the history of racing, Ron Anderson has won plenty of major races over the years, but his closest call came a little more than a year ago, and it wasn't even on the track.
Lani may be shedding his reputation as the bad boy of the Triple Crown. A horse who gave his handlers fits before the Kentucky Derby, would act studdish around fillies and mares, and who was tough around the gate, Lani has been on his best behavior at Belmont Park.
Nyquist, whose bid for a Triple Crown ended with a third-place finish in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 21, was scheduled to resume jogging at Pimlico on Thursday in advance of a flight to trainer Doug O'Neill's base at Santa Anita on Sunday.
Lani has made great strides since his training before the Kentucky Derby. And those who saw him in Louisville would find it hard to believe after watching him train here Wednesday that this was the same horse who would refuse to break off or extend himself during workouts.
With Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist out of the picture, Preakness hero Exaggerator will garner most of the attention here in the final 12 days leading to the Belmont Stakes.