ELMONT, N.Y. – Essential Quality was the champion 2-year-old of 2020 based on a perfect 3-for-3 campaign that ended with a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. After his triumph in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, Essential Quality will head into the second half of 2021 as the leader of the 3-year-old division, with several important races yet to be run. “That would be huge,” Brad Cox, the trainer of Essential Quality said Sunday morning about a divisional championship. “I’d say that list is pretty short in recent years that were champions at 2 and 3. Obviously, that’s the goal.” American Pharoah, the Triple Crown winner of 2015, is the last horse to win both the 2- and 3-year-old championships. Lookin At Lucky went back to back in 2009-10. Before then, one has to go back to Spectacular Bid in 1978-79. Essential Quality added the Belmont to victories earlier this year in the Grade 3 Southwest at Oaklawn and the Grade 2 Blue Grass at Keeneland. His lone blemish was a fourth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, where he took a hard bump at the break and a wide trip and was beaten just one length. :: Access exclusive morning workout reports and get an edge on Belmont Stakes Day with DRF Clocker Reports  “The body of work that this colt’s done, the numbers he received, he’s so consistent,” Cox said. “He’s never run a bad race.” Essential Quality’s 109 Beyer Speed Figure earned in the Belmont is the highest since Empire Maker received a 110 in 2003. Among the horses with a chance to contend for divisional honors are Mandaloun, also trained by Cox, who crossed the finish line second behind Medina Spirit in the Kentucky Derby. Medina Spirit could be disqualified from that victory for testing positive post-race for an overage of the corticosteroid betamethasone. The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has yet to make an official ruling in the case, and the connections of Medina Spirit have said they plan to fight it. Mandaloun, whose lone official victory in four starts this year, came in the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes, is scheduled to run in Sunday’s $150,000 Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth Park. That would presumably be a stepping-stone to the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell Invitational, also at Monmouth, on July 17. Cox said those two races, and the Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby at Parx on Sept. 25 could be a way to keep Mandaloun and Essential Quality apart before potentially the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar in November. “If they both make to the Classic, it means they both had a successful summer and fall,” Cox said. Rombauer won the Preakness, a race in which Essential Quality did not run. Rombauer finished third behind Essential Quality in the Blue Grass and in the Belmont Stakes, where he was beaten 12 1/4 lengths. Rombauer and Belmont Stakes runner-up Hot Rod Charlie were both scheduled to return to Southern California on Tuesday. Without a major dirt stakes for 3-year-olds on that circuit, both would likely have to go on the road again this summer. Michael McCarthy, trainer of Rombauer, didn’t rule out attempting to train his colt up to the Travers. Earlier this year, Rombauer won the El Camino Real Derby at 1 1/8 miles off a 99-day layoff. Hot Rod Charlie won the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby on March 20 and finished third in the Kentucky Derby on May 1. He was a super game second in the Belmont, after setting a fast early pace and still fighting with Essential Quality until inside the sixteenth pole. :: DRF Bets players get FREE Daily Racing Form Past Performances and up to 5% weekly cashback. Join Now.  Trainer Doug O’Neill said Sunday he and the owners want to watch Hot Rod Charlie over the next two or three weeks before mapping out a plan. Possible options include the Haskell and/or the Grade 1 Pacific Classic – the latter would mean taking on older horses – at Del Mar on Aug. 21. The spacing from the Belmont to the Haskell and to the Pacific Classic would emulate the time between races from the Louisiana Derby to the Kentucky Derby and Belmont. The Travers is also possible. “We’ll wait two or three weeks and see if he pulls us one way or the other, but man we’re hoping there are many good chapters in the tale of Charlie,” O’Neill said. The wild card in the division could be Life Is Good. His victories in the Grade 3 Sham and Grade 2 San Felipe earlier this year had him on the top of many Kentucky Derby lists before an injury knocked him off the Triple Crown trail. Elliott Walden, president of WinStar Farm, said Saturday that Life Is Good is galloping at Keeneland. Walden did not say when Life Is Good might be ready to run and declined to discuss if the horse would return to trainer Bob Baffert. Baffert is banned from racing at New York tracks, which would take races at Saratoga off the table. If Life Is Good stays with Baffert, he could potentially be in play for the Pennsylvania Derby and then the Breeders’ Cup. West Coast (2016) and Arrogate (2017), were both Baffert-trained 3-year-olds who did not participate in the Triple Crown but had second half campaigns that earned them the Eclipse Award. As of now, Essential Quality is the one they all have to catch. “Until he can be knocked out, he’s the champion,” Cox said. “He holds the belt.”