Not really. As I stated before, the goal is the Travers. I’m sure they are wanting a race at 1 1/8 miles which the Ohio Derby is. The Matt Winn is normally only 1 1/16. , but with the switch to Ellis Park it will be run at 1 1/8 this year. The horse is probably ready to run so why wait 2 more weeks when a race is available Sunday.
Sensational Belmont Stakes Undercard Led by Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series Trio.
The 2023 Belmont Stakes is shaping up to be a tremendous race, and it will headline an incredible day of racing and wagering at Belmont Park that will essentially equate to a sort of mini-Breeders’ Cup in June with a total of nine important graded stakes races topped by the 155th running of the Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets.Belmont Stakes day, with the help of the sensational undercard, will be about as good as it gets on the mid-year racing calendar. Belmont will host six Grade 1 races on Saturday, June 10, including the $1 million Hill ‘n’ Dale Metropolitan Handicap, the $750,000 Resorts World Casino Manhattan Stakes, the $500,000 Ogden Phipps Stakes, the $400,000 Woody Stephens Stakes Presented by Mohegan Sun, and the $400,000 Jaipur Stakes. The Grade 2 Brooklyn Invitational Stakes, the Grade 2 True North Stakes, and the Grade 3 Poker Stakes round out the stakes competition on the card.
Three of the Belmont Stakes day races will have extra prestige. They’re part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge “Win and You’re In” series, which ensures the winners of a spot in the starting gate at the Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Santa Anita Park on Nov. 3-4. All three races will feature the kind of high-quality fields you would expect and will add to what promises to be a memorable day or racing and wagering at beautiful Belmont Park.
Here is a closer look at the Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” races on the 2023 Belmont Stakes undercard.
Officially a prep race for the Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff, the Ogden Phipps drew a short field that is nevertheless long on quality with some of the principals of the older female division in attendance in the six-horse field. The favorite should be Clairiere, who has stepped out from the shadow of her rivalry with the now-retired Malathaat to become the leader of the distaff division after her victory over Secret Oath in Oaklawn’s Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap last time out. Clairiere beat Malathaat in this race last year and will seek the repeat. Secret Oath will challenge once again in the Ogden Phipps after falling only a neck short of Clairiere in the Apple Blossom. This will be no two-horse race, either. Played Hard really came into her own last time in her Grade 1 win in the La Troienne Stakes Presented by Twinspires.com, and multiple graded stakes winner Search Results always looms a danger in spots like this. Pass the Champagne, winner of the Grade 2 Ruffian Stakes at Belmont in her last start, and allowance winner Gamestonks round out the small but stellar field.
Turf sprinting is a big part of the day-to-day racing at Belmont Park and the Jaipur has attracted the fastest turf sprinters on the grounds in this “Win and You’re In” race for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. As you would expect, the starting gate will be filled to the brim with 14 contenders plus two also-eligible entrants and this figures to be perhaps the toughest race on the card to handicap. The favorite should be reigning Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint champion Caravel, who apparently has returned better than ever in 2023 with back-to-back wins in the Grade 2 Shakertown Stakes at Keeneland and the Unbridled Sidney Stakes at Churchill Downs. She will be challenged by a murderer’s row of blazing turf sprinters like Yes and Yes, Go Bears Go, Arrest Me Red, Nothing Better, Big Invasion, and defending Jaipur victor Casa Creed just to name a few of the many contenders.
The Belmont Stakes is all about the 3-year-olds but the older horses are not to be overshadowed on this national spotlight day when they take their turn on center stage in the Metropolitan Handicap in what is always one of the most important stakes races of the year.
This serves as a Win and You’re In race for the Big Ass Fans Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. Last year’s running of the “Met Mile,” as the race is commonly referred to, was won by budding star Flightline, who went on to win the Longines Classic and not the Dirt Mile on his path to earning Horse of the Year honors in 2022.
This year’s Met Mile is shaping up to have the potential to be another classic with the popular 2022 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Cody’s Wish headlining the field. If you are looking for a better price in the Met Mile, horseplayers will have plenty of other quality options, including the 1-2 finishers in Belmont’s Grade 3 Westchester Stakes, Repo Rocks and Zandon. There’s also Doppelganger, who exits a win in the Grade 1 Carter Handicap Presented by NYRA Bets at Aqueduct on April 8. A big gun invades from the West Coast in the form of Dr. Schivel, who is on the comeback trail now after a big allowance win at Santa Anita. You might remember him as the runner-up by a nose in the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Sprint. Finally, there’s Charge It, who is coming off a disappointing loss last time out in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap. At his best, however, Charge It won the Grade 3 Dwyer Stakes on this track by 23 lengths in 2022.
Hall of Fame Jockey and FOX Analyst Mike Smith Evaluates the 2023 Belmont Stakes Field.
The 155th running of the Grade 1 $1.5 million Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets will be broadcast on FOX from 4-7:30 p.m. ET, with a scheduled post time of 7:02. The final leg of the Triple Crown, run at a mile and a half, attracted a field of nine.
Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith will serve as an expert commentator for FOX. He is a three-time winner of the Belmont, flashing across the wire first with Drosselmeyer (2010), Palace Malice (2013) and Triple Crown winner Justify (2018).
Smith continues to compete at a high level at age 55. He examined the prospects of a number of the race’s top contenders as part of a wide-ranging question-and-answer session conducted on behalf of America’s Best Racing.
PEDULLA: With this being the 50th anniversary of Secretariat’s machine-like romp in the Belmont Stakes, will we ever see a performance like that again?
SMITH: Never.
PEDULLA: Why do you say that without hesitation?
SMITH: How long ago was that? We’ll never see something like that again. We’ll never see another Michael Jordan. We’ll never see another Secretariat. It was a moment in time that was just meant to be.
PEDULLA: Does this work for FOX possibly signal your future when your riding career ends?
SMITH: You know, it’s really something I’ve been looking forward to for my second career. I’ve thought this is really something I want to do. This is going to be a really good prep race, so to say, to see if it’s something I enjoy, to see if it’s something I’m good at or not. It’s something that fell into place and I’m so happy that it did. It’s an opportunity to see where it takes me. But I ain’t done yet, buddy. Trust me, I ain’t done yet.
PEDULLA: What are the keys to riding well in the Belmont Stakes?
SMITH: It doesn’t favor closers as much as you would think it would. As a matter of fact, it’s almost the opposite. It doesn’t mean a closer can’t win the race.
PEDULLA: Is the ideal position to be forwardly placed?
SMITH: Forwardly placed or somewhere where you’re not taking the kickback for so long. It’s a long way to take the kickback in the face. If you can position yourself to be placed where you’re not taking so much kickback, the horse will respond.
PEDULLA: Can National Treasure repeat his Preakness Stakes success?
SMITH: I would never say never. I would never say he’s without a chance.
PEDULLA: Was National Treasure’s front-running Preakness win simply a product of a slow pace?
SMITH: I truly believe this. I still don’t think we’ve seen the best of him, so that gives him a chance (in the Belmont).
PEDULLA: Forte has not run since the Curlin Florida Derby Presented by Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms at Xalapa. Can he overcome that kind of layoff?
SMITH: Todd Pletcher is the trainer. To me, I have a lot of faith in him. I think Todd makes up for the layoff.
PEDULLA: Tapit Trice, another Pletcher trainee, has been viewed for a long time as a Belmont Stakes horse. Do you see why that is out there?
SMITH: He has the ability to win something like this. But he hasn’t shown the mind, day in and day out, like Forte has. Forte is straightforward and shows up every time. Tapit Trice has some issues now and then and that’s a knock on him, I would think.
PEDULLA: How do you evaluate Angel of Empire, who finished third in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve?
SMITH: He didn’t quite show up the way they thought he would in the Kentucky Derby, but that doesn’t mean he can’t. He certainly can. Look, when you get to this level it’s like an NFL team. They’re in the NFL because they’re good enough to play in the NFL. You can have a team that is 0-for, or whatever, and they can beat the top team every now and then. They’re all capable.
PEDULLA: Red Route One ran fourth in the Preakness. Do you see him as a horse that is moving forward?
SMITH: He ran well. You can’t take that from him. I’m not saying he can’t move forward, but he’s going to have to.
PEDULLA: Peter Pan Stakes winner Arcangelo will be trying two turns for the first time. How challenging is that?
SMITH: I’m not saying he can’t. But it’s your first go around two turns and you’re going to try Big Sandy at a mile and a half? That’s a tall task.
PEDULLA: Cody’s Wish heads the field in what looks to be a contentious Hill ‘n’ Dale Metropolitan Handicap, aka the Met Mile. How good is Cody’s Wish?
SMITH: Best horse in the country right now. And emphasize “right now.”
PEDULLA: So who will win the Belmont Stakes?
SMITH: To me, the best horse in the race is Forte. His résumé says so over and over again. That’s not to say that the others can’t do it. They’re in the Belmont for a reason. They have a lot of talent. But if we see the Forte we’ve seen in the past, to me he’s just superior.
Here is a great story about who the actual photographer was that took the famous photo of Secretariat at the finish line.
For 50 years, this image has defined Secretariat’s famed Triple Crown. Who took it?
It’s been fifty years since Secretariat won the Belmont to seal the Triple Crown. But the iconic photo of that moment is far from settled history.
sports.nbcsports.com
Racing at Belmont today has been canceled due to poor air quality. But Friday and Saturday are still on and racing will resume both days.
This makes no sense but that’s what they are doing.
www.nyra.com
This makes no sense but that’s what they are doing.
Poor air quality forces cancellation of live racing on Thursday at Belmont Park
Poor air quality forces cancellation of live racing on Thursday at Belmont Park | The New York Racing Association
www.nyra.com
VD, you described your reaction to Secretariat's Belmont as getting goosebumps when you see the replay. I was there that day and that's exactly what I got as Secretariat widened his lead going around that track in record time as the crowd noise got louder and louder. People were in a frenzy as he came down the stretch in front of the patrons. I've been lucky to be at some really great sporting events over the years but that day in Elmont, NY tops all my sports experiences. None come close because there is no two minute climax in any other sport. I was young, relatively new to horse racing, and had no idea how special that day would become as the years passed. You've got to be a horse player to understand it, but Secretariat was the best athlete I ever saw. Heads and shoulders above any other pretenders.
Thanks for the replay, Greenie.
Is that photo in your home, charlie? That is way cool.
I will be all over #7 Hit Show to win the Belmont. Has the tactical speed to be in a good stalking position and the stamina to go the distance. He chased a fast pace in the Derby and stayed on well to finish 5th. He passed every pace setter in front of him except for Two Phil’s. He won’t have to near as fast in the Belmont and should finish strong Will use #1 Tapit Shoes, #2 Tapit Trice, #3 Arcangelo, #8 Angel of Empire and #9 Red Route One underneath in exotics. I don’t like either favorite, National Treasure or Forte. I think both will finish out of the money.
