11/23/2023 0 Comments Irad ortiz belmontI’m not going to be fifth, I’m not going to be seventh. “By the time we got to the eighth pole, he was stepping on his tongue and I said that's enough. “I nursed him to the quarter pole and set him down, put him down for a mad drive and said, ‘Show me your stuff’, and there was nothing there,” said jockey Kent Desormeaux, who rode less than a week removed from his return after an eight-day stay in a Utah alcohol rehabilitation center following his Preakness triumph. Yet an even bigger surprise involved the scene of Exaggerator staggering home a soundly beaten 11th in the field of 13, some 14 lengths away from the dramatic slugfest at the finish line.įor a horse coming off a 3½-length win in the Preakness, with a second in the Kentucky Derby and a 6 ¼-length romp in the Santa Anita Derby prior to that, it was an utterly puzzling no-show when the spotlight finally belonged to him and him alone. “I think today was perfect for us by inches.” “It’s the best feeling right now,” said winning trainer Steve Asmussen, who gave Creator five weeks rest after a troubled 13th place finish in the Kentucky Derby. Exaggerator’s utterly puzzling no-showĪt the finish, it was WinStar Farm and celebrity chef Bobby Flay’s Creator prevailing in the final bob over the Todd Pletcher-trained Destin as a 16-1 shot dramatically edged an 8-1 shot by a nose and the five-week Triple Crown trail resulted in the confusion of three separate winners for the first time since 2013. Yet that notion turned as soggy as the heads of anyone outside in the rain storm when the mile-and-a-half classic produced two startling results. After all, the Preakness winner was a solid 7-5 favorite over 12 rivals in the final jewel of the Triple Crown, and fatigue was waved off since his connections have continually marveled over the way the son of Curlin can rebound after tough efforts.įrom all indications in the days before the race, the Belmont Stakes seemed destined to be the grand moment when Exaggerator finally could thump his chest like King Kong. The $1.5 million Belmont figured to serve as the vehicle that motored Exaggerator past his absent rival, Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist, and into the top spot among this year’s crop of Triple Crown runners. Whether it arrived about 20 minutes late for Exaggerator is a debatable point, but there was no doubt the storm pelted the track after the outlook in the 3-year-old division had been muddied. Photo: Īfter New York City weather forecasters predicted in assured tones on Friday that rain would pour down prior to the 148th running of the Belmont Stakes, the skies above Belmont Park finally opened at about 7 p.m. Titanic battle: Creator (left) and Destin fight out the Belmont finish with Lani in third.
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