Indy Storm is not in the same league as Afleet Alex, but strange things happen in the 1 1/2-mile Belmont. Indy Storm, an improving son of Belmont winner A.P. Indy, is bred for the distance and qualified to upset. His pattern - up in class after a career best - is akin to Belmont longshot winners Sarava, Lemon Drop Kid, and Colonial Affair.
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DRF Past Performances
Giacomo was not as sharp in the Preakness as he was in winning the Kentucky Derby, slowly getting into stride and finishing a distant third behind Afleet Alex and Scrappy T. His relatively dull performance was not altogether a surprise considering that he had produced a career-best effort in the Derby just two weeks earlier.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Jockey Jeremy Rose well remembers his first thought when he saw expansive Belmont Park.
"It's big," he said.
Belmont Park is the only 1 1/2-mile track in the country. Most tracks are one mile, like Churchill Downs or Pimlico; some are 1 1/8 miles, like Aqueduct. And the Belmont Stakes itself, which encompasses one full lap, has become an anachronism in a sport that has gravitated toward speed over stamina. The Belmont Stakes is the only Grade 1 race on dirt in this country at 1 1/2 miles, a distance rarely run at any class level.
ELMONT, N.Y. - His owner has won the Belmont Stakes. His trainer has won two, albeit not as a trainer. His jockey, veterinarian, groom - heck, even his father - have all won the third leg of racing's Triple Crown.
Reverberate certainly has the connections to be successful in Saturday's 137th renewal of the Belmont Stakes. Oh yeah, he may just have the talent as well.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The owners of Afleet Alex have had so much fun during this Triple Crown run, they hope to be players on this level for years to come.
Toward that end, the Cash Is King Stable has spent approximately $700,000 at auction on 2-year-olds this spring in hopes of finding of another Afleet Alex, the Preakness winner and the third-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby.
ELMONT, N.Y. - When a horse wins the Kentucky Derby, he usually is compelled to run in the Preakness Stakes. Add the Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes becomes mandatory. But if a horse wins the Derby, and then loses the Preakness, nothing is compulsory, especially if the horse is based at the other end of the country.
ELMONT, N.Y. - John Velazquez thought Christmas had come early when his agent, Angel Cordero Jr., told him in mid-December that he was committed to ride Afleet Alex as a 3-year-old. Unfortunately, it turned out to be more like April Fool's Day.
Had circumstances been different, Velazquez - and not Jeremy Rose - would be at the center of the hoopla surrounding Afleet Alex, the Preakness winner and favorite for Saturday's Belmont Stakes.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Some of the all-time training greats were also outstanding self-promoters. The late Woody Stephens, asked once what he had eaten for breakfast that morning, is rumored to have replied, "Bacon and eggs and toast - and did I tell you that I won five straight Belmonts?"
ELMONT, N.Y. - As the regular rider of Horse of the Year Ghostzapper, who won last year's Breeders' Cup Classic and most recently took the Metropolitan Mile, jockey Javier Castellano has been put through the pressure cooker the past year, and has come out of it with both his confidence and his stock on the rise.