SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Bill Mott said the decision to skip the Preakness with Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty doesn’t put any more pressure on him to win the Belmont Stakes than otherwise already exists.
“It would be the same,” Mott said Thursday morning outside his Saratoga barn. “I feel the normal pressure of wanting to win and just the pressure of keeping him out of trouble and keep him sound and hope he stays sound.”
American Flag, who won the 1925 Belmont Stakes, is from one of the most successful sirelines in that classic’s history. But it was through his daughters, not his sons, that American Flag left his legacy to the breed.
A century after his Belmont victory, he is linked to this year’s Kentucky Derby winner, Sovereignty, as well as a number of other prospects for the 2025 Belmont Stakes.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Those who waited around in the cold and rain from the time the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga opened at 5:15 a.m. until Sovereignty finally made his appearance nearly 4 1/2 hours later were rewarded for their patience. The Kentucky Derby winner got the better of no less a workmate than Arthur’s Ride after breezing a very impressive-looking five furlongs in 1:02.45 over a surface officially labeled “good” throughout the course of the morning.
Rodriguez and Baeza both turned in serious workouts Friday morning at Santa Anita in preparation for scheduled starts in the $2 million Belmont Stakes at Saratoga on June 7.
Rodriguez, the Wood Memorial winner who scratched from the Kentucky Derby due to a foot issue, went seven furlongs in 1:24.80. Santa Anita clocker Dane Nelson caught Rodriguez’s first five furlongs in 59.60 seconds.
Gosger, a game second to Journalism in Saturday’s Grade 1 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico, will skip the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga on June 7 in favor of a major stakes for 3-year-olds in July.
Trainer Brendan Walsh said on Wednesday that Gosger has emerged from the Preakness in good condition, and will benefit from a longer period between starts.
“I don’t think we’re going to go” to the Belmont, Walsh said. “I think we’ll give him a little more time.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – In Hill Road, winner of Saturday’s Grade 3 Peter Pan Stakes at Aqueduct, trainer Chad Brown will be bringing a relatively fresh horse to the June 7 Belmont Stakes at Saratoga. But Brown doesn’t think that gives him any sort of advantage over horses like Kentucky Derby first- and third-place finishers Sovereignty and Baeza, who are skipping Saturday’s Preakness to point to the Belmont.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Chad Brown may not be out of this year’s Triple Crown series after all.
Though he didn’t have a starter in the Kentucky Derby and won’t have one in next Saturday’s Preakness Stakes, Brown may have found his Belmont Stakes horse in Hill Road, who came with a strong rally in the stretch under Flavien Prat to win Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes at Aqueduct by three-quarters of a length over McAfee.
Baeza, who drew into the Kentucky Derby from the also-eligible list last week, returned to trainer John Shirreffs’s stable at Santa Anita on Tuesday evening.
Baeza, who races for Lee and Susan Searing’s CRK Stable, will be based in California in the buildup to his next scheduled start, the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes at Saratoga on June 7. The Belmont is also expected to be the next start for Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty.
In the Derby, Baeza was beaten 1 3/4 lengths by Sovereignty and was a neck behind second-place finisher Journalism.
Last May, Antiquarian gave Todd Pletcher his record-extending fifth victory in the Grade 3 Peter Pan Stakes before finishing fifth in the Belmont. On Saturday, Pletcher will send out the pair of Vassimo and Uncaged in the Peter Pan, which drew a field of 10 and could be used as a stepping-stone to the Belmont Stakes on June 7 at Saratoga.
Vassimo, like Antiquarian a year ago, enters the Peter Pan off a sixth-place finish in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby. Irad Ortiz Jr. rides Vassimo from the rail.
The New York Racing Association announced Friday that it will offer financial incentives to horsemen who participate in the five-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, which will be held at Saratoga from June 4-8.
Owners whose horses finish fourth through last in races run during those days will be eligible to receive $1,500 in stakes races and $1,000 in overnight races. Trainers are eligible to receive a bonus of $750 for a stakes starter and $500 for starters in overnight races for horses who finish fourth through last.
