It's official: Cloud Computing will skip Belmont Stakes
ELMONT, N.Y. - As his counterpart Todd Pletcher did with Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming earlier this week, trainer Chad Brown on Sunday morning confirmed that Preakness winner Cloud Computing would skip the 149th Belmont Stakes on June 10. He will be pointed to the Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy at Saratoga on July 29.
“As we try to plan his second half of the year, we just don’t feel like running in a mile and a half race just three weeks after his strong performance in the Preakness is the right thing to do for him if we want to have a horse for the rest of the year,” said Brown, who trains Cloud Computing for owners Seth Klarman and Bill Lawrence.
Brown said Cloud Computing would remain in training at Belmont Park for the foreseeable future before moving up to Saratoga. The Jim Dandy would be used as a steppingstone to the Grade 1 Travers on Aug. 26. The Travers is also the goal for Always Dreaming, who could run in either the Jim Dandy or the $1 million Haskell at Monmouth Park on July 30.
Brown will still be represented in the Belmont Stakes as he confirmed that owner Gary Biszantz will pay the $75,000 supplemental fee to make Twisted Tom eligible for the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes, which figures to draw a full field of 14 to 16 runners.
On Sunday, Twisted Tom worked five furlongs in 1:01.31 over the Belmont main track in company with Economic Model, who is pointing to the Grade 1, $1.2 million Metropolitan Handicap on the Belmont card.
“I thought it was a fantastic breeze,” Brown said. “I was impressed.”
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Twisted Tom, a New York-bred gelding by Creative Cause, is 3 for 3 this year for Brown, who got the gelding last fall after he was purchased privately by Biszantz, who races under the name Cobra Farm. Twisted Tom made his first two starts for trainer George Weaver and owner Thomas Brockley.
In his first start for Brown, Twisted Tom finished sixth in a turf allowance at Aqueduct. Brown switched Twisted Tom to the dirt and added blinkers to his equipment. Twisted Tom won a first-level allowance going a two-turn mile over Aqueduct’s inner track in January. He then won the Private Terms Stakes at Laurel by a nose and the Federico Tesio at Laurel by 2 1/4 lengths. The latter was a two-turn race at 1 1/8 miles.
“I give the horse a lot of credit, he doesn’t run flashy numbers but he knows how to win and if you get into a fight with him in the lane he doesn’t back down,” Brown said. “In addition, he seems to be a very long-winded horse. This race will be a huge class test for him and I’m not going to make any predictions because of that, but I feel strongly he does want a mile and a half and that’s why we’re looking to run here.”
Javier Castellano, who rode Cloud Computing in the Preakness, will ride Twisted Tom in the Belmont.
** In other Belmont news Sunday, trainer Brian Lynch said he has booked Mike Smith to ride Peter Pan runner-up Meantime in the Belmont. Lynch said all he needs to see next week is another good workout from Meantime and the horse will definitely run in the “Test of the Champion.”
Smith has won the Belmont Stakes twice, including with Drosselmeyer in 2010, the last year when there were separate winners of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness and neither raced in the Belmont.
** Brown also worked two of his other 3-year-olds early Sunday morning. Practical Joke, the two-time Grade 1-winning 2-year-old who finished fifth in the Kentucky Derby, and Timeline, the undefeated winner of the Peter Pan Stakes, went four furlongs together in 49.22 seconds, galloping out five furlongs in 1:01.75.
It was the first work for Practical Joke since the Derby; he is pointing to the Grade 3, $400,000 Dwyer on July 8 at Belmont. It was Timeline’s first work since his 3 1/2-length victory in the Peter Pan; he is pointing to the Grade 3, $100,000 Pegasus at Monmouth Park on June 18, a prep for the $1 million Haskell Invitational on July 30.
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| HORSE | TRAINER | JOCKEY | LAST RACE/FINISH |
| Classic Empire | Mark Casse | Julien Leparoux | Preakness, 2nd |
| Conquest Mo Money | Miguel Hernandez | undecided | Preakness, 7th |
| Epicharis | Kiyoshi Hagiwara | Christophe Lemaire | UAE Derby, 2nd |
| Gormley | John Shirreffs | Victor Espinoza | Ky. Derby, 9th |
| Irish War Cry | Graham Motion | Rajiv Maragh | Ky. Derby, 10th |
| J Boys Echo | Dale Romans | undecided | Ky. Derby, 15th |
| Lookin At Lee | Steve Asmussen | Irad Ortiz, Jr. | Preakness, 4th |
| Meantime | Brian Lynch | Mike Smith | Peter Pan, 2nd |
| Multiplier | Brendan Walsh | Joel Rosario | Preakness, 6th |
| Patch | Todd Pletcher | John Velazquez | Ky. Derby, 14th |
| Senior Investment | Kenny McPeek | Channing Hill | Preakness, 3rd |
| Tapwrit | Todd Pletcher | Jose Ortiz | Ky. Derby, 6th |
| True Timber | Kiaran McLaughlin | undecided | Sir Barton, 3rd |
| Twisted Tom | Chad Brown | Javier Castellano | Tesio, 1st |