SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Dornoch looks to restore somewhat of a tarnished image when he starts as a probable longshot in a field of 10 in Saturday’s $2 million Belmont Stakes at Saratoga.
Coming off a solid 2-year-old campaign, one in which he defeated Sierra Leone in the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct, Dornoch’s 3-year-old campaign has been relatively underwhelming.
Monday, June 3
Saratoga
Weather: Clear
Temperature: 58
Track: Fast
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – With all the heavy lifting over, Monday proved a relatively quiet day on the Belmont Stakes training front with much of the activity that did occur taking place early over the very popular Oklahoma training track.
SARATOGA
Weather: Clear
Track: Fast
Temperature: 54
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The final piece of the Belmont Stakes workout puzzle fell into place nicely around 7:45 a.m. Sunday morning over the Oklahoma training track. Wood Memorial winner RESILIENCE solidified his spot in the lineup with a very solid half-mile breeze in 47.88 seconds that delighted a gathering of about two-dozen spectators, none more so than his Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Todd Pletcher may not be running his most accomplished 3-year-old in the Belmont Stakes on June 8, but he could arguably be running his most exciting prospect when he sends out Mindframe in the third leg of Thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown to be run at Saratoga.
Fierceness, last year’s 2-year-old champion male who finished 15th as the favorite in the Kentucky Derby, will skip the $2 million Belmont Stakes on June 8 at Saratoga and instead point to the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell on July 20 at Monmouth Park, trainer Todd Pletcher said Thursday afternoon.
Pletcher said he feels Fierceness “needs a little more time” after his race in the Derby.
Though he won’t make a final decision until Sunday, trainer Kenny McPeek appears to be leaning toward running Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan in the $2 million Belmont Stakes on June 8 at Saratoga.
During a national conference call Thursday, McPeek said that if Mystik Dan works well this weekend at Saratoga and comes out of it well, he would likely run in the Belmont where he would face Preakness winner Seize the Grey. It would be the first meeting of separate winners of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness since Orb and Oxbow met in 2013.
Twelve of the 24 Belmont Stakes run since 2000 have been won by horses who ran in but did not win the Kentucky Derby, skipped the Preakness, and came in relatively fresh for the third leg of racing’s Triple Crown.
There figures to be a handful of horses attempting to duplicate the likes of Mo Donegal (2022), Essential Quality (2021), Palace Malice (2013), Birdstone (2004), and Commendable (17th in 2000) when this year’s Belmont Stakes is run June 8 at Saratoga and at the shortened distance of 1 1/4 miles.
Seize the Grey, the Preakness winner, will run in the $2 million Belmont Stakes on June 8 at Saratoga, trainer D. Wayne Lukas confirmed Tuesday afternoon.
“He bounced back really well, exceptional,” Lukas said Tuesday though he had hinted on Sunday he was leaning toward running. “[Bob] Baffert and I were looking at him [Sunday] and Baffert couldn’t believe how he held his flesh.”
The Blood-Horse was the first to report the news.
Kentucky Derby runner-up Sierra Leone returned to the work tab Saturday in Saratoga, working a half-mile in 48.20 seconds over the Oklahoma training track.
Sierra Leone worked in company and on the inside of Domestic Product, the Tampa Bay Derby winner who finished 13th in the Kentucky Derby.
Sierra Leone is pointing to the Belmont Stakes to be run June 8 at Saratoga. There are no immediate plans for Domestic Product.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - On Saturday, Antiquarian gave trainer Todd Pletcher his fifth victory in the Peter Pan Stakes. In four weeks, Antiquarian will try to give Pletcher his fifth victory in the Belmont Stakes.
None of Pletcher’s four previous Peter Pan winners was successful in the Belmont. Of the three who ran back in the Belmont, Sunriver in 2004 managed to finish third. In 2014, the Pletcher-trained Commissioner, who finished second in the Peter Pan to Tonalist, came back to run second, beaten a nose, by Tonalist in the Belmont.
