Bolshoi Ballet, Santa Barbara give O'Brien all the ammunition he needs for Belmont Derby and Oaks

ELMONT, N.Y. – The Irish-based trainer Aidan O’Brien has been a big supporter of the Belmont Derby and Belmont Oaks, two rich Grade 1 races for 3-year-olds at Belmont Park, often sending more than one horse to participate in each race.

This year, however, O’Brien will have just one in each. That may be all he needs.

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Bolshoi Ballet, a multiple Group 3 winner in Ireland before a mishap while finishing seventh in the Group 1 Epsom Derby, will likely be a strong favorite in Saturday’s $1 million Belmont Derby, which drew a field of nine. Santa Barbara, who is a half-sister to a pair of Breeders’ Cup winners and who just missed against Thundering Nights in the Group 1 Pretty Polly at The Curragh last out, should go favored in the $700,000 Belmont Oaks, which drew a field of eight. Both races, part of an 11-race card, are scheduled for 1 1/4 miles on the inner turf.

“These are two high-profile ones that we’re bringing in this year,” T.J. Comerford, longtime assistant to O’Brien, said Wednesday morning at Belmont.

Bolshoi Ballet, a son of Galileo, was a visually impressive six-length winner of the Group 3 Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial on May 9. Sent off the 6-5 favorite in the Epsom Derby, Bolshoi Ballet was beaten 17 lengths. O’Brien reported in the European press in the days after the race that Bolshoi Ballet had suffered a cut to his right hind leg, something he believed happened early in the race.

“He got galloped into behind and he cut his hind leg, and we had to give him time to heal up and all that, but he’s back good again now,” Comerford said.

Bolshoi Ballet, who drew post 2, will face a field of mostly U.S.-based horses led by Hard Love, a winner of 3 of 4 starts, all for trainer Jonathan Thomas, and Du Jour, who won the Grade 2 American Turf at Churchill Downs for trainer Bob Baffert and his wife, Jill, who is part-owner of the horse.

In order to comply with NYRA’s temporary ban of Baffert due to his stable’s medication violations, Du Jour has been transferred to Bill Mott and has been in New York for about a month.

The Belmont Derby draw, from the rail out is: Palazzi, Bolshoi Ballet, Safe Conduct, Sainthood, Du Jour, Hard Love, Tokyo Gold, Cellist, and Hidden Enemy.

In the Belmont Oaks, O’Brien will send out Santa Barbara, who is a half-sister to Iridessa, the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf winner, and Order of Australia, the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Mile winner.

In the Pretty Polly, Santa Barbara was outfinished a neck by Thundering Nights. Three weeks earlier, the 4-year-old Thundering Nights was beaten a nose by Mean Mary in the Grade 2 New York Stakes here.

“Aidan thinks a lot of her,” Comerford said of Santa Barbara. “Her work at home has always been very good. She’s probably just running in tough races and she’s getting all the experience from running in them.”

Santa Barbara drew post 5 in the Oaks.

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Ryan Moore is coming to ride both of the O’Brien horses. In 2018, Moore rode both races for O’Brien, winning the Oaks on Athena and finishing third on second choice Hunting Horn in the Belmont Derby.

The Oaks draw, from the rail out, is Con Lima, Cirona, Higher Truth, Spanish Loveaffair, Santa Barbara, Nazuna, Plum Ali, and Gam’s Mission.