ELMONT, N.Y. - Any time you win the prestigious Metropolitan Handicap it’s a good day. But trainer Todd Pletcher was about a length away on Saturday from having arguably his greatest day as a trainer.
On a day when Palace Malice won the Grade 1, $1.25 million Met Mile, Pletcher finished a combined length away from winning four other graded stakes - including the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes, where his 28-1 shot Commissioner was beaten a head by Tonalist.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Tonalist, the winner of the 146th Belmont Stakes on Saturday, came out of the race in good condition and will be pointed to major stakes races on dirt the rest of the year, with the Travers Stakes at Saratoga being an obvious target, trainer Christophe Clement said Sunday morning at Belmont Park.
“He’s been trained to be a dirt horse. He’s bred to be a dirt horse. He will remain a dirt horse,” said Clement, whose success with grass runners often overshadows his considerable aptitude with dirt horses.
Tonalist is by Tapit and out of a mare by Pleasant Colony.
ELMONT, N.Y. – California Chrome emerged from Saturday’s Belmont Stakes with a minor injury to his right front hoof and will be given a lengthy rest before a scheduled return to racing this fall, trainer Art Sherman said Sunday morning at Belmont Park.
“He’s good, other than having a good chunk of his quarter cut,” Sherman said. “We’ll get that healed up at the barn for two to three weeks, then stop on him for six or seven weeks, give him some pasture time. He needs a rest.”
ELMONT, N.Y. - Christophe Clement used to resent when he would be characterized in the media as a turf trainer. But he learned to live with that reputation after taking some advice from his friend and colleague Bill Mott who said “never complain about being labeled as any kind of trainer because it keeps good horses coming your way.”
ELMONT, N.Y. - Victor Espinoza knew early on this wasn’t going to be California Chrome’s day.
Espinoza said that California Chrome didn’t show the same energy early on in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes that he had shown in winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness and he trudged home in a dead-heat for fourth with Wicked Strong, two lengths behind Tonalist in the 146th Belmont Stakes.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Here are all the mutuel payoffs for the 146th Belmont Stakes:
1st – 11 – Tonalist, $20.40 win, $9.60 place, $7 show
2nd – 8 – Commissioner, $23.20 place, $13.20 show
3rd – 1 – Medal Count, $13.20 show
4th – (DEAD HEAT) 2 – California Chrome; 9 – Wicked Strong
On June 10, 1978, Affirmed thrust his head past the wire an instant ahead of Alydar in the Belmont Stakes, and in so doing became the 11th winner of America’s Triple Crown. Back then, it did not seem like such a difficult thing to do. Secretariat had dazzled when he’d turned the trick in 1973, and Seattle Slew had powered his way to a similar feat only the year before Affirmed.
Jockey Frank Alvarado rallied Curly Girly ($7.80) in the stretch to run down I Like a Kathy in Friday's eighth race at Golden Gate Fields to record the 3,000th victory of his career.
The 45-year-old native of Panama City, Panama, won his first race April 24, 1984, at Presidente Remon Ractrack in Panama City aboard Gold Son. He came to the United States in 1990 and scored his first U.S. victory aboard Solely True at Gulfstream Park on March 3, 1990.
It’s about 5:30 a.m. the morning of the Belmont Stakes, and dual classic winner California Chrome is sauntering down the horsepath under the trees, ears pricked, seemingly unperturbed by the handful of press and well-wishers here to get one final look the morning of the most significant test of his young life. Exercise rider Willie Delgado pats the colt on the neck, then throws a thumbs-up to the rider of a passing horse who hollers a good luck wish to the horse looking to end 36 years of crushed hopes if he can sweep the Triple Crown later today.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Central Banker, the fourth choice on the morning line for Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park, will be forced to scratch from that race after being administered the legal medication Legend within the prohibited time frame established by the New York State Gaming Commission.
Legend is an injectable medication used to treat joints.
