Belmont Stakes

Heritage, as a substitute for internationally adequate prize money, is literally priceless to the nation that cradled the Thoroughbred. Nowhere is this more apparent than at Royal Ascot, where prestige and pageant will next week again draw not just global attention but also global participation. As a result, this most definitively English of occasions has in recent years become ever more cosmopolitan. It's a pretty precarious arrangement for British racing, in that the economic model harnessed to its cultural assets-namely, an export market for yearlings and horses-in-training-threatens ultimately to erode...

ELMONT, NY - With regular exercise rider Gabriel Lagunes in the saddle, GI Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike (Keen Ice) circled the shedrow shortly after 8:30 a.m. on a sticky Thursday morning at Belmont Park. Making his way through the picturesque Belmont backstretch about 10 minutes later with a good-sized entourage in tow, Rich Strike entered the paddock via the tunnel as owner Richard Dawson and trainer Eric Reed, both sporting plenty of black-and-red Rich Strike swag, chatted by the famed Secretariat statue. With torrential pre-dawn thunderstorms leaving the main...

The GII Wonder Again S., which grants a spot in the GI Belmont Oaks starting gate to the top three finishers, kicks off a race week loaded with stakes action Thursday in what NYRA refers to as the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. Chad Brown has saddled the winners of three of the eight renewals of this event and it is of no surprise that he sends out the race favorite again this year in Klaravich Stables' two-time stakes winner Consumer Spending (More Than Ready). She is a deserving favorite after...

Rich Strike (Keen Ice), the winner of the GI Kentucky Derby and a starter in the upcoming GI Belmont S., was placed on the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission's veterinarian's list May 22 and did not come off the list until last Sunday. However, trainer Eric Reed reports that the horse's presence on the vet's list is not a cause for concern. "He was on there because of routine stuff that we had a chiropractor work on," Reed said "In Kentucky, with anything like that you have to report it to...

ELMONT, NY -- With GI Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike (Keen Ice) exiting from post four, a field of eight was drawn Tuesday morning for Saturday's 154th GI Belmont Stakes. The historic, come-from-behind 80-1 Derby upsetter heads to the final leg of the Triple Crown fresh after breaking the norm and skipping the GI Preakness S. He has been installed as the third choice on the morning line at odds of 7-2. The $30,000 claim-to-fame will attempt to be the first non-Triple Crown winner to capture both the Kentucky Derby...

Golden Glider (Ghostzapper), most recently second in the GIII Peter Pan S., tuned up for Saturday's GI Belmont S. with a four-furlong work in :49.90 (33/84) at Belmont Park Sunday. NYRA clockers caught the colt, with exercise rider Kylie Wellington up, through a quarter-mile in :26.20 and a gallop-out in 1:02.80. "I thought he worked really well. He settled early, which is what you want out of a Belmont horse, and flew home," trainer Mark Casse said. Casse won the 2019 Belmont with Sir Winston (Awesome Again), who also finished...

Several major contenders for next week's $1.5-million GI Belmont S. completed their final serious preparations Saturday morning. Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher seeks his fourth Belmont trophy, and sent out his pair of representatives, GII Wood Memorial S. winner Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) and GI Longines Kentucky Oaks runner-up Nest (Curlin), to an in-company half in :49.90 (68/129) over the Belmont training track. Irad Ortiz, Jr. and Jose Ortiz, respectively, piloted the pair, who Pletcher caught breaking off in :24.80 and galloping out six furlongs in 1:14 and seven furlongs...

Rich Strike (Keen Ice), upset winner of the GI Kentucky Derby, got his first look at the Belmont Park main track on Thursday, galloping 1 1/2 miles over the sloppy going with regular exercise rider Gabriel Lagunes in the irons. The chestnut arrived at Belmont early Wednesday morning to prepare for the GI Belmont S. on June 11. "It seems like he's done everything a little bit better than I thought he would," said trainer Eric Reed. "We actually took him out yesterday and we were going to give him...

GI Kentucky Derby upsetter Rich Strike (Keen Ice) arrived in New York by van from Kentucky at 1 a.m. Wednesday to prepare for the GI Belmont S. June 11. With exercise rider Gabriel Lagunes up, Rich Strike visited Belmont's dirt training track at 9:30 a.m. with the accompaniment of outrider Juan Galvez and his pony Stormy, making two laps the wrong way round. "He settled down a lot the second time round. A lot of that was trying to get him used to the pony. You could see the farther...

Creative Minister (Creative Cause), coming off a third-place effort in the GI Preakness S., tuned up for the June 11 GI Belmont S. with a four-furlong work in :48.33 (2/5) at Belmont Park Tuesday. NYRA clockers caught Creative Minister marking off a quarter-mile in :24 over the fast track, rolling through without much urging from jockey Heman Harkie. Rounding the turn and heading for the wire, Harkie remained still aboard the grey colt who continued a steady rhythm down the stretch to complete the work in :48.33, galloping out five-eighths...

A New York racing tradition began in 1971, the first time that Memorial Day was officially celebrated each year on the last Monday in May. A crowd of 61,147 showed up that Monday at Belmont Park to watch Tunex win the $121,600 Metropolitan Mile for trainer Allen Jerkens and owner Hobeau Farm. For the next 42 years, New York racing fans circled Memorial Day on their calendars, knowing that it would be one of the biggest days of the year, thanks to the GI Metropolitan H. In 1976 and 1977,...

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher's potential GI Belmont S. duo of Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) and the filly Nest (Curlin) worked in company Friday morning. Nest, with Jose Ortiz aboard, and Mo Donegal, who was piloted by Irad Ortiz, Jr., went to the fast main track under cloudy skies and temperatures in the 60s. Nest worked to the inside of Mo Donegal as both horses completed their five-furlong moves in 1:02.99, followed by an extended three-eighths gallop out. "The main thing I tried to emphasize to Jose and Irad...