The Truth Or Else out of Belmont Stakes
The Truth Or Else is out of the Belmont Stakes on Saturday at Belmont Park with filling in an ankle, his trainer, Ken McPeek, said Monday morning on his Twitter account.
Jay PrivmanJun 01, 2015
The Truth Or Else is out of the Belmont Stakes on Saturday at Belmont Park with filling in an ankle, his trainer, Ken McPeek, said Monday morning on his Twitter account.
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Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner American Pharoah completed his outstanding preparation for the Belmont with a final five-furlong breeze that was timed in 1:00.08 by DRF clocker Mike Welsch.
For a man on the verge of making racing history, now less than one week away from attempting to complete the Triple Crown on Saturday with American Pharoah in the Belmont Stakes, trainer Bob Baffert couldn’t have been more relaxed or in better spirits than he was Sunday morning at Churchill Downs.
Barring a late change in plans, it appears that all the major work is over for the seven Belmont Stakes hopefuls currently stabled on the grounds after MUBTAAHIJ and TALE OF VERVE turned in five-furlong breezes about 2 1/2 hours apart under perfect conditions here Saturday.
When Tale of Verve failed to draw into the field for the Kentucky Derby, his connections immediately began thinking about the Belmont Stakes as an ideal race for their long-distance-running 3-year-old.
On a bright, warm Saturday morning at Churchill Downs, Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner American Pharoah was sent through what figures to be his final gallop here, as the colt was tentatively scheduled to have his final breeze here Sunday in preparation for the Belmont Stakes on June 6.
Before American Pharoah arrived in trainer Bob Baffert's barn in 2014, equine professionals at Stockplace Farm, Vinery, Taylor Made, and the McKathans' training center gave the Triple Crown hopeful his earliest care and most basic lessons, in the process becoming the first to see that glimmer of promise.
Beginning in 1987, when Jack Van Berg took Alysheba to the brink of winning the Triple Crown, I have been to Belmont Park for 10 tries and left there with a fistful of programs worth considerably less than they might have been. So here we go again.
Trainer Todd Pletcher still has decisions to make – most notably who will ride his horses in the June 6 Belmont Stakes – but on Friday, he seemed pretty certain that he would run three horses against Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner American Pharoah in the “Test of the Champion” at Belmont Park.
Friday has been the work day of choice for the majority of the Belmont Stakes contenders stabled on the grounds. For the second Friday in a row, trainer Todd Pletcher worked his Belmont trio of Materiality, Carpe Diem, and Madefromlucky, while Kiaran McLaughlin followed suit, keeping Frosted on the same schedule with an impressive half-mile breeze after the renovation break.