OZONE PARK, N.Y. - No one has ever accused trainer Rick Violette Jr. of being a front-runner. He has been a champion for the plight of backstretch workers and has represented trainers in dealings with track management, thankless work that can engender ill will.
"Unfortunately, you don't necessarily make friends, but I sleep well at night," Violette said Tuesday morning at his barn at Aqueduct. "Someone's got to do it."
Five horses scheduled to run in Saturday's 138th Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park recorded their final workouts on Tuesday morning. At Belmont Park, Deputy Glitters worked five furlongs in 59.82 seconds, Platinum Couple worked three furlongs in 37.82 seconds, and Sacred Light worked six furlongs in 1:16.42. Joe Lostritto, who trains Platinum Couple, said the colt would race with blinkers for the first time on Saturday. He wore blinkers in the work. At Aqueduct, High Finance breezed six furlongs in 1:13.68.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The gray, gloomy skies at Belmont Park on Monday morning were an appropriate backdrop for a Triple Crown that has gone from engrossing to underwhelming. There is no Barbaro, the Kentucky Derby winner. There is no Bernardini, the Preakness Stakes winner. There is very little buzz for this Saturday's .
ELMONT, N.Y. - Elliott Walden's role in the game has changed, but the charge he gets in seeing a horse he's associated with having a shot to win a big race has not. On Saturday, Walden hopes to rekindle the emotions of 1998, when he trained Victory Gallop to an upset of Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Real Quiet in one of the more memorable Belmont Stakes of recent times.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The rain that pelted Long Island Friday night and Saturday morning forced trainer Kiaran McLaughlin to postpone a scheduled work for his talented 3-year-old Jazil. It did not, however, dampen the trainer's enthusiasm for running the horse in Saturday's $1 million .
ELMONT, N.Y. - Tom McCrocklin has attended horse auctions for about eight years on behalf of owners Robert and Lawana Low with the goal of finding fillies that could race and eventually become broodmare prospects.
So McCrocklin was quite surprised in the spring of 2005 when, at the end of a telephone conversation, Robert Low said to him, "Go buy me a colt that can go a mile and a quarter.''
ELMONT, N.Y. - Barry Irwin and his Team Valor ownership syndicate has had a modicum of success in the Belmont Stakes. In 1992, Team Valor finished second behind A.P. Indy with My Memoirs. In 1998, Team Valor and Earle Mack co-owned Thomas Jo, who finished third behind Victory Gallop and Real Quiet. A third Team Valor horse, Dr Greenfield, finished last in 2001.
It seems that Bob and John and Sweetnorthernsaint have been circling one another all spring, but only once have their paths crossed, and neither had much to show for it. Both disappointed in the Kentucky Derby, but then Sweetnorthernsaint went on to the Preakness Stakes, while Bob and John returned to California to await the final leg of the Triple Crown, the June 10 .
ELMONT, N.Y. - Like most trainers with a healthy 3-year-old, Jerry Hollendorfer sees opportunity beckoning when he looks at this year's Belmont Stakes field. Now, it's just a matter of whether the northern California-based conditioner is ready to answer the call.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Tom Albertrani may not be bringing his best 3-year-old to the 138th Belmont Stakes, but the one that he will saddle in the final leg of Thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown will certainly merit consideration.
