Belmont Stakes

ELMONT, NY - The handsome gray Knicks Go (Paynter) was among several high-profile runners spotted stretching their legs on an overcast and humid Thursday morning at beautiful Belmont Park ahead of this weekend's GI Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. The GI Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan Mile H.-bound GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and GI Pegasus World Cup winner wrapped up his exercise just before 6 a.m. With an on-and-off light drizzle falling throughout the morning as temperatures hovered in the low 60s, GI Preakness S. upsetter and Belmont S. second-choice Rombauer...

For decades, Tom Durkin was the singular voice of Thoroughbred racing, not just from his perch in the announcer's booths at New York Racing Association tracks, but also on nationally-televised broadcasts, where he brought colorful life to so many of the iconic memories etched in racing fans' minds the world over. He has been less visible since stepping down from racecaller duties in 2014, but is still involved in the game, and he joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by JPMorgan Private Bank Wednesday morning as the Green Group Guest...

Legendary racecaller Tom Durkin joins this week's TDN Writers' Room to share his favorite Belmont memories and talk on the RTCA's Champions Talk.

ELMONT, NY -- After a forgettable run on the first Saturday in May, the previously unbeaten Rock Your World (Candy Ride {Arg}) will get his shot at redemption in the 153rd renewal of the GI Belmont S. Off as the 9-2 second-choice in the GI Kentucky Derby following a jaw-dropping, front-running tally in the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby at third asking, the dark bay's race was over well before his well-documented trouble at the start that day, per co-owner Kosta Hronis. "I think he showed a lot of immaturity,"...

Japan's France Go de Ina (Will Take Charge) put in his final breeze for Saturday's GI Belmont S. Wednesday, going five furlongs over Big Sandy in 1:02.62 (5/9). Under exercise rider Masaki Takano, he hit the track, clocking splits of :13.12, :25.78 and :49.23. Trainer Hideyuki Mori was on site to watch his charge, who was last seen finishing seventh in the GI Preakness S. "He moved really well. We were really happy with the work this morning," Mori said through translator Kate Hunter. "The extra time between this race...

The mystique around Calumet is such that it aptly discloses a nearly perfect anagram for "Camelot." Both words evoke, not just an idealized past, but a yearning for the restoration of standards eroded during our unchivalrous times. Of course, Calumet has itself had its modern lapses, but there's no mistaking the wholesome intentions animating its latest ownership. True, the methods of Brad Kelley and his team sometimes strike the orthodox observer as idiosyncratic, to put it mildly. But it makes sense to write a new chapter, in their own hand,...

Godolphin's Essential Quality (Tapit) will break from post two and was installed as the 2-1 morning-line favorite when post positions were drawn Tuesday morning for Saturday's GI Belmont S. The Brad Cox trainee suffered the first loss of his career when fourth in the GI Kentucky Derby, but had previously been undefeated in five starts and was named last year's champion 2-year-old male. "He ran what I thought was a winning race in the Derby; he didn't have the trip, but he showed up and he's been improving in every...

Godolphin's Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), winner of the G2 UAE Derby in March, will be forced to miss Saturday's GI Belmont S. due to an infection in a hind leg, according to a tweet from Godolphin Tuesday morning. "We hope this is only a minor setback and we look forward to seeing him back on the racecourse in the near future," the tweet read. With his UAE Derby victory, Rebel's Romance had qualified into the field for the May 1 GI Kentucky Derby, but connections decided to bypass that...

Cypress Creek Equine, Arnold Bennewith, and Spendthrift Farm's Keepmeinmind (Laoban), who worked a half-mile in :46.92 (1/6) over a sloppy Belmont dirt training track Monday, will skip Saturday's GI Belmont S. and could make his next start over the turf in the July 10 GI Belmont Derby. "He worked great this morning, but thinking about it some more, I think he needs a little more time," trainer Robertino Diodoro said. "We were always 50-50 for the race, but I think as soon as we arrived at Belmont people got the...

• John and Diane Fradkin's GI Preakness S. winner Rombauer (Twirling Candy) worked a half-mile in company Friday on the Belmont Park main track in preparation for the GI Belmont S. Rombauer, trained by Michael McCarthy, was clocked in :50.01 (53/86) beneath John Velazquez over the fast main track. "I was very happy with the work," McCarthy said. "I just wanted him to go ahead and get familiar with Johnny. It seemed like he was well in hand at all times. Johnny asked him to gallop out a little bit going...

Rock Your World (Candy Ride {Arg}), 17th after getting roughed up at the start in the GI Kentucky Derby, worked five furlongs in 1:01.20 (15/28) at Santa Anita Friday in his penultimate major drill for the GI Belmont S. "He went in a minute and change, out [three-quarters] in [one] 13 and we're very happy," trainer John Sadler said. The GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby winner was ridden by exercise rider Geovanni Grant and went in company with MGSW Campaign (Curlin), who was clocked in 1:01.40 covering the same distance....

Three-time GI Belmont S.-winning conditioner Todd Pletcher sent out a trio of colts to breeze Friday morning at Big Sandy in preparation for this year's running of the final leg of the Triple Crown June 5. GI Curlin Florida Derby winner and GI Kentucky Derby ninth-place finisher Known Agenda (Curlin) breezed in company with GI Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan H. contender Dr Post (Quality Road). The duo went in 1:02.54 (8/18). Irad Ortiz, Jr. was aboard Known Agenda, with Hall of Famer John Velazquez on last year's Belmont S. runner-up...