The Kentucky Derby to Belmont path has become the rule rather than the exception
Commendable won just two races in his career, a debut victory against maidens at Del Mar in the summer of 1999, and nearly 10 months later, after six straight races in which he finished out of the money, the Belmont Stakes. He was the fourth Belmont winner for trainer D. Wayne Lukas, the third for jockey Pat Day, both already members of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame by then.
As for Commendable? He ran four more times, all without winning, before going to stud. He first stood in Kentucky, later in Korea, with a remarkably undistinguished career. He’d be but a footnote in history, except for the fact he begat a trend that continues to this day.
Commendable in 2000 led a 1-2-4 finish in the Belmont for horses who ran in the Kentucky Derby, bypassed the Preakness, and came into the final leg of the Triple Crown off five weeks’ rest. Concurrent with an era in which trainers prefer to give their horses far more time between starts than their predecessors of a half-century ago, the Belmont was won 10 times between 2000 and 2017 by horses who ran Derby weekend and not again until the Belmont.
For this year’s Belmont on Saturday at Belmont Park, five of the eight runners – Bourbonic, Essential Quality, Hot Rod Charlie, Known Agenda, and Rock Your World – are coming into the Belmont after running in the Derby and sitting out the Preakness. If any of them win, they would join a list that includes Commendable, Empire Maker (2003), Birdstone (2004), Jazil (2006), Summer Bird (2009), Union Rags (2012), Palace Malice (2013), Creator (2016), and Tapwrit (2017). The 10th horse since 2000 who ran Derby weekend and won the Belmont is the filly Rags to Riches, who won the Kentucky Oaks the day before the 2007 Derby and next out scored her dramatic victory over Preakness winner Curlin in the Belmont.
Rags to Riches, Palace Malice, and Tapwrit all were trained by Todd Pletcher, the recently minted Hall of Famer who will seek his fourth Belmont win on Saturday with three entrants, two of whom have followed his blueprint of awaiting the Belmont after racing Derby weekend. Pletcher is the most successful trainer in the Belmont over the past two decades. In addition to his three wins, he has finished second in the race four times, with Bluegrass Cat (2006), Dunkirk (2009), Stay Thirsty (2011), and Commissioner (2014).
“I think there’s a number of reasons we’ve done well,” Pletcher said in a recent telephone interview from Belmont Park, where he is based this time of year. “First off, we’ve taken quality horses who ran in the Derby. They have a good foundation in terms of their fitness. We get them back here to Belmont and they have five weeks to acclimate, get used to the mile-and-a-half track. Just as it’s important for a jockey to get used to a mile-and-a-half track, I think it helps the horses. A jockey has to be aware that when he turns up the backside, there’s a mile to go, not three-quarters like on a mile track.”
Pletcher’s trio is headed by Known Agenda, the Florida Derby winner who crossed the wire ninth in the Derby. Bourbonic, 13th in the Derby after winning the Wood Memorial, also is following Pletcher’s path for Belmont success. His third entrant is the longshot Overtook, third in the Peter Pan and a winner of 1 of 5 starts.
Both Bourbonic and Overtook are grandsons of 1992 Belmont winner A.P. Indy, who through his grandson Tapit has had enormous influence on the recent Belmont. Tapwrit, Creator, and Tonalist (2014) have given Tapit three of the last six winners when the race has been run at 1 1/2 miles, numbers that could swell further if Essential Quality, the likely favorite, wins Saturday.
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Brad Cox, who trains Essential Quality, said having a son of Tapit made the Belmont a logical target. Essential Quality got a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 100 when fourth after a wide trip in the Derby, and that followed a career-best 97 when he won the Blue Grass. Those efforts, Cox said, also guided his planning toward the Belmont. Coming back in two weeks for the Preakness was judged as too much, too soon.
“Both were career races as far as figs go,” Cox said. “Horses have a hard time coming back to a number or moving forward off short rest. We’re trying to get him to run back to his number in the Derby.”
Both Hot Rod Charlie and Rock Your World returned to their home base of Santa Anita after the Derby, and trained there prior to heading to New York last weekend.
Doug O’Neill, who trains Hot Rod Charlie, said he and the colt’s ownership group all agreed prior to the Derby that absent a Derby win, the plan would be to await the Belmont.
“We came to the consensus if we won, Baltimore here we come, but anything short of that the best play was to wait for the Belmont,” O’Neill said.
That schedule is reflective of how Hot Rod Charlie has been campaigned this year. He had seven weeks off prior to his victory in the Louisiana Derby, then came into the Derby off a six-week break. He earned career-best Beyer figures in both races.
Rock Your World entered the Derby 3 for 3, but was eliminated at the start when squeezed badly between rivals, and eventually crossed the wire 17th. His trainer, John Sadler, said, “There was no scenario to run in the Preakness, unless we didn’t want to run in the Belmont, and we think he’s a natural stayer.”
After the Derby, Sadler maintained a cautiously optimistic approach to the Belmont.
“We wanted to make sure he was taking us there, that we weren’t going because of the calendar,” Sadler said.
Recent works convinced him Rock Your World was ready to go. This time, though, Sadler is hoping the race isn’t over at the start.
“I just want to break,” he said. “I’m not asking too much, am I?”