Belmont Stakes Notes 5.19.09
Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said this morning that a final decision will be made Wednesday on whether Charitable Man, winner of the Grade 2 Peter Pan, will start in the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes on June 6.
Other possible starters for the Belmont Stakes are Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, Preakness-winning filly Rachel Alexandra, Chocolate Candy, Dunkirk, Flying Private, Love Gov, Miner’s Escape, Mr. Hot Stuff and Summer Bird.
“I will have a conversation with his owner (William K. Warren) and then we will make a final decision,” said McLaughlin. “We are pointing that way.”
In addition to his victory in the Peter Pan on May 9, Charitable Man, a son of 1999 Belmont Stakes winner Lemon Drop Kid, won both his 2008 starts including the Grade 2 Futurity, and finished seventh in the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland in his first start as a three-year-old.
McLaughlin said the colt will work this weekend, most likely Saturday, and again next weekend as he points towards the 1½-mile “Test of the Champion.” Jockey Alan Garcia, who won last year’s Belmont aboard longshot Da’ Tara, has the call.
“If Mine That Bird and/or Rachel Alexandra come back, I like our chances, having a fresh horse,” said McLaughlin. “I think the right horses were 1-2 in the Preakness. It was fabulous to see the filly win, and to have the Kentucky Derby winner validate his victory at Churchill Downs. Overall, I think the industry was a big winner.”
Should Charitable Man start in the Belmont Stakes, he will be trying to become the first colt since A.P. Indy in 1992 to complete the Peter Pan-Belmont double. His sire, Lemon Drop Kid, finished third in the 1999 Peter Pan.
Kalarikkal and Vilasini Jayaraman’s Summer Bird arrived safely at Belmont Park this morning at approximately 5:30. The Belmont Stakes contender was third in the Grade 2 Arkansas Derby, beaten a length and a quarter by Papa Clem.
“We kind of broke the trip up for him,” said trainer Tim Ice. “We left Louisiana about 4 o’clock on Sunday afternoon, and got to Louisville (KY). He got a good 10 hours of sleep and we left Louisville around 4 o’clock on Monday afternoon. I brought his gallop boy with him, but I’ll probably look for someone local to breeze him.”
Ice said the son of 2004 Belmont Stakes winner Birdstone will likely work Saturday or Sunday on the main track after the mid-morning break. He breezed five furlongs in 1:02.00 last Friday morning on the fast track at Louisiana Downs.
Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas said Tuesday that William Mack and Robert Baker’s Flying Private, fourth behind Rachel Alexandra in the Preakness, and Marylou Whitney Stable’s Luv Gov, who was eighth, were likely to start in the Belmont Stakes on June 6.
“I will be conferring with William Mack and Bob Baker and we will be making a decision in a couple of days,” said Lukas, who has won the Belmont Stakes with Tabasco Cat (1994), Thunder Gulch (1995), Editor’s Note (1996) and Commendable (2000). “As well, I have yet to sit down with Marylou Whitney Stables. Both are under strong consideration for the race.”
Both Flying Private and Luv Gov returned to Churchill Downs following the Preakness.
Lukas has not had a Belmont Stakes starter since A.P. Arrow ran fifth in 2005 to Afleet Alex.
Trainer Todd Pletcher sent out some of his stable stars on the main track on Monday morning.
Let’s Go Stable’s Ready’s Echo, prepping for Monday’s Memorial Day feature, the 116th running of the Grade 1, $600,000 Metropolitan Handicap at a mile, breezed a half-mile on the fast main track in 47.82
The fastest time of 63 runners at that distance on Monday morning was recorded by Mrs. John Magnier and Michael Tabor’s Dunkirk, who went in 47.24, breezing. The Florida Derby runner-up to Quality Road, who was 11th in the Kentucky Derby, is being pointed toward the 141st running of the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes. The 1 ½-mile “Test of the Champion” for three-year-olds at a mile and a half will be Saturday, June 6.
Munnings worked in company with Dunkirk.
Craig Family Trust’s Chocolate Candy, also expected for the Belmont Stakes, worked six furlongs in 1:13.44, breezing on the fast main track on Monday morning under jockey Garrett Gomez.
“(Gomez and agent Ron Anderson) are undecided as to who they will ride, but they have first choice on Chocolate Candy,” said Hollendorfer, who came in for the workout and headed right back to California. “He galloped out in (27.20) and he really seems to like the track. He’s super fit, and I have been hard on him this year. I gave him nine days out after the Kentucky Derby and I think I’ll keep him on a seven-day work schedule leading up to the Belmont Stakes.”
The Candy Ride colt, whose dam, Crownette, is a daughter of 1977 Triple Crown winner Seatttle Slew, was second by a length to Pioneerof the Nile in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby in April, then ran fifth in the Kentucky Derby.
New York fans will remember Hollendorfer, as the trainer of rap singer M.C. Hammer’s Lite Light back in 1991.
Lite Light’s rivalry with champion Meadow Star was one of the great ones in the sport’s history. Meadow Star won their first meeting in the Breeder’s Cup Juvenile, Fillies at Belmont Park. At 3, Lite Light came to Belmont Park to rematch Meadow Star in the Grade 1 Mother Goose. Hall of Famer Leroy Jolley, who trained Meadow Star, deemed the race “The Mother of All Gooses,” and Meadow Star won in a photo-finish so tight that it took officials six minutes to determine the winner.
Lite Light came back for an authoritative victory in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks, setting a stakes record (2:00) for the race which was then run at a mile and a quarter.