ELMONT, N.Y. – When it pertains to the Belmont Stakes, it always comes back to Woody Stephens.
Skip to main content
Create Your DRF Account
New to DRF?
Everything you could possibly
need in one place
need in one place
Register
Don't have an account?
Register Here
DRF Past Performances
There is a rigid scale by which the level of excitement is measured when it comes to anticipation for the Belmont Stakes, and no amount of public relations can shake the equation. In descending order, the various possibilities look like this, beginning with Level 1 (also called Code Secretariat), in which a superstar romps in the Derby and Preakness and all that’s left for the Belmont is the giddy coronation:
Level 2 – Unbeaten over-achiever comes to town with chance to make history in Triple Crown (see Seattle Slew, Smarty Jones).
ELMONT, N.Y. -- For Brilliant Speed, the Kentucky Derby was a make or break race. Run well, and he would get another chance on dirt. Run poorly, and perhaps it would time to permanently affix a label on him of being a turf or synthetic surface specialist.
“I was hopefully optimistic,” his trainer, Tom Albertrani, said Tuesday morning at Belmont Park.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Animal Kingdom was first in the Kentucky Derby, then second in the Preakness Stakes, and judging by the way he worked and looked on Monday morning here at Belmont Park, he has retained all his edge and fitness heading into the 143rd Belmont Stakes on Saturday.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Animal Kingdom, the Kentucky Derby winner and Preakness Stakes runner-up, completed his preparations for Saturday's Belmont Stakes with a four-furlong work in 47.79 seconds on Monday morning at Belmont Park. His regular rider, John Velazquez, was aboard for the drill, which occurred shortly after the track reopened following the renovation break at 8:50 a.m. Eastern.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Nehro, the second-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby, completed his preparation for Saturday's Belmont Stakes with a four-furlong drill in 50.85 seconds early Monday morning at Belmont Park.
Nehro came onto the track about 6:45 a.m. and, accompanied by a pony, jogged the wrong way from an area near the 1 1/4-mile start to the finish line of the 1 1/2-mile oval.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Jockey Ramon Dominguez on Sunday morning got acquainted with his mount for next Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, working Mucho Macho Man a solid five furlongs in 59.57 seconds over the Belmont main track.
It was the first time Dominguez was aboard Mucho Macho Man, who had been ridden to a third-place finish in the Kentucky Derby and a sixth-place finish in the Preakness by Rajiv Maragh.
The connections of Prime Cut debated all this past week whether or not to run in the Belmont Stakes, and on Saturday night, trainer Neil Howard announced that Prime Cut, the third-place finisher in last month's Peter Pan Stakes, would indeed return to New York for the Belmont Stakes on June 11.