Trainer Chad Brown notched a record-extending seventh consecutive training title at the Belmont spring/summer meeting with 47 victories, the record for most wins earned by a trainer at a Belmont spring/summer meet. Irad Ortiz, Jr. secured the leading rider title with 48 wins, while Michael Dubb paced all owners with 16 wins. The Belmont spring/summer meet was conducted for 44 days from Apr. 28 through July 10.
The previous training record of 44 victories, set by David Jacobson at the 56-day 2013 spring/summer meet, was broken when 3-year-old filly Demandsrespect (Union Rags) graduated at fourth asking in a July 4 maiden special weight over the main track.
“My team should be very proud of themselves and proud of what they did,” Brown said of setting the meet record. “Obviously, it's never been done and they deserve every bit of it.”
Brown's successes at the meeting include 12 graded stakes victories, and he closed out the meet with a record of 153-47-30-22, earnings of $5,776,633, a 30.72% win percentage and a 64.71% in-the-money clip.
The battle for leading jockey came down to the final day of the meet as Ortiz Jr. entered the card one win behind Dylan Davis. Ortiz Jr. evened the score with a victory aboard Lady Yellen (Central Banker) in the opener before coming away with a one-win advantage aboard First to Act in race five. With the top two riders slated to ride in two more races, Ortiz, Jr. clinched the title–his 19th on the NYRA circuit–with a thrilling finish in race seven aboard Queen Bourbon (Empire Maker) to post his 48th win of the meet.
“It feels great,” said Ortiz Jr. “Honestly, we've been working so hard since the year started. Hard work, a lot of dedication. We've been out there every day that they ask for me. It feels good when you win a title. We love to win the meet; it's not easy, but thank God we got it done today. Thanks to my agent Steve Rushing for doing an amazing job. It was great. Dylan had a great meet, also.”
Ortiz, Jr.'s meet was one to remember, scoring the Classic win of his career in taking the GI Belmont S. atop the Todd Pletcher-trained Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo).
Live racing resumes on Opening Day Thursday of the summer meet at Saratoga with a 10-race card, featuring the $135,000 Wilton S. and $175,000 GIII Schuylerville S. First post is 1:05 p.m. Eastern.
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