Belmont Stakes Follow-up Notes
Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird obviously loves New York – so much so, that he could return this summer to run at Saratoga Race Course in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes and the Grade 1, $1 million Shadwell Travers Stakes.
“We’ve discussed the Jim Dandy and the Travers with the owners (Drs. Kalarikkal and Vilasini Jayaraman),” said winning trainer Tim Ice, his voice still hoarse Sunday morning from cheering Summer Bird home in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million race. “If we go, like we did for the Belmont, we’ll go ahead of time, ship up a month before the (August 1) Jim Dandy.
“People tell me you have to go to two places – Del Mar and Saratoga,” said Ice, who took out his trainer’s license 14 months ago. “I’ve been to Del Mar, and to take a horse like this and go to Saratoga would be amazing.”
Summer Bird, who was making only his fifth career start in the Belmont, came out of the mile-and-a-half race in great shape, said Ice.
“I had him grazing for two hours,” he said. “He looks great.”
Ice, who celebrated his 35th birthday Saturday, said he thought there were several factors that contributed to Summer Bird’s victory, the second of his brief career.
“He had five weeks off, the horse is maturing, the jockey (Kent Desormeaux) is a Hall of Famer who knows Belmont Park and was our best shot, and I’m glad I came here early,” he said. “It took the horse a week to get used to the track. After I saw him train here the first three days, I put toe grabs on him (in back), and of course right after the Derby we were going to put blinkers on, and he was up closer
“He’s done nothing but give me confidence,” he added. “When he two-minute-clipped on Wednesday, he put confidence in me.”
Summer Bird, a homebred son of 2004 Belmont Stakes winner Birdstone, will leave New York on Monday and be flown to Louisville. From there, he will be vanned to Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La., Ice’s home base.
“I have about 25 horses there, and I picked up two new owners just in the weeks I’ve been here,” said Ice. “This whole thing is unbelievable. Watching the horse come down the stretch was like an out-of-body experience.”
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While the mood at Mine That Bird’s barn on Sunday morning was somewhat subdued, Mine That Bird himself showed no signs of exhaustion for his impressive effort running third in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday.
“He feels awful good this morning,” said trainer Chip Woolley “Awful bright and bouncing – he’s ready to get out and go do something.”
One look at the little gelding walking around the barn, peering inquisitively at the small crowd gathered outside bore this statement out. His trainer, stretched out in a lawn chair complete with footrest and cup holder for coffee, admitted a touch of fatigue.
“Talk about whipped,” Woolley said. “About halfway through dinner last night I just said ‘Guys, I’m done,’ and I’m not that type at all. I couldn’t believe how I hit a wall last night. I never thought I’d be sitting here sort of down about running third in the Belmont – this has been a lifetime dream.”
Although he is understandably disappointed by the loss, Woolley keeps it in perspective.
“When he was making for the lead as they turned for home, I was thinking ‘We’re in trouble,’” Woolley said. “It was just too early to make the lead here and I was really concerned we’d used a little too much horse in the turn. If you move too early with this horse, his past history shows he comes up empty. Tim (Ice, trainer of winning Summer Bird) is a great guy and he deserves to win. He’s done a nice job with his horse.”
Mine That Bird may not have come home a winner on Saturday, but his trainer is as impressed as ever with the son of 2004 Belmont Stakes winner Birdstone.
“There’s only one three-year-old this year who made it through all three of these races and was right there all three times,” Woolley said. “The horse showed up every time. He’s the same horse he was when I led him over to the Derby and I’m in love with what I saw here.”
Mine That Bird will ship back to Churchill Downs at 6 a.m. Monday, and Woolley said they planned to spend the week in Kentucky and was still discussing Mine That Bird’s future with owners Mark Allen and Dr. Leonard Blach. He hopes to get two good races into the gelding before the Breeders’ Cup in November.
“We’ll see what fits his schedule best,” Woolley said. “I’d rather keep him on dirt and against other three-year-olds. It may be a couple of days before we make a hard decision, and we’ll definitely for sure give him eight weeks off now. There’s a lot of opportunity out here [on the East Coast] more than anything out West, even in California.”
Woolley named the Grade 2 $500,000 Jim Dandy or the Grade 1 $1 million Travers at Saratoga Race Course among the options he was considering for Mine That Bird, but said the welfare of the horse would dictate his next move.
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Belmont Stakes second-place finisher Dunkirk showed no signs of fatigue this morning at trainer Todd Pletcher’s barn. Dunkirk set the pace through a mile before dropping back, then coming back again to finish ahead of Mine That Bird by a neck.
“He put in a big effort and was tired after the race,” Pletcher said. “His energy levels seem to be up. He was bright and alert this morning. I was proud of his determination. It looked like at the quarter pole he was going to be surrounded by the [Kentucky] Derby winner and the Peter Pan winner [Charitable Man], but he fought back. I have to give him a lot of credit for doing something like that.
The Belmont was the fifth start for the $3.7 million son of Unbridled’s Song. Since winning his debut less than five months ago in Florida, Dunkirk won an allowance race and ran a game second to Quality Road in the Grade 1 Florida Derby.
“We felt back as far as November he was a top-class horse,” Pletcher said. “When he broke his maiden in January, we were thinking about races like this [The Belmont]. He’s still probably a race behind his schedule.”
Pletcher’s goal for Dunkirk is Saratoga Race Course’s marquee race of the meet – the Shadwell Travers – as well as the Jim Dandy.
“The Travers is a key race for us,” he said. “The question is how we are going to get there. It’s going to be either the Jim Dandy or the Haskell. We think it’s ideal to give him two months of spacing in between races. The three-year-old picture is still open. We’ll have to see if someone steps up and strings a couple of victories together.”
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Trainer Kiaran McLauglin, though disappointed with Charitable Man’s fourth-place finish in the Belmont Stakes, said the horse came back in relatively good shape.
“He got nicked up a little, but otherwise, he’s okay,” McLaughlin said. “I said before the race that I wouldn’t trade places with anyone, and I still feel that way. He is a nice horse. I think the race track had a speed bias and the complexion [of the race] changed a lot when Dunkirk went to the lead.”
McLaughlin said he would regroup and look to races like Saratoga’s Grade 2, $250,000 Jim Dandy at nine furlongs on August 1, and the Grade 1, $1 million Shadwell Travers on Saturday, Saturday, August 29 or possibly Monmouth Park’s Grade 1, $1 million Haskell Invitational on August 2.
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Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito said that both of his Belmont Stakes runners – seventh-place finisher Brave Victory and 10th-place finisher Miner’s Escape – were doing well this morning, although he admits that Brave Victory was particularly lucky.
“He got jumped on, and there is a gash on the back of his knee,” said Zito holding his thumb and index finger about an inch apart. “He missed nicking his tendon by this much.
“Miner’s Escape never had a chance. He stumbled and got squeezed at the start and Dunkirk got the jump on him. I don’t know if we’re ready for the big races later this summer, but those are the ones we like to run in. We’ll give them some time and see where they take us.”
Zito added that he, along with Belmont Park’s crowd of 52,861, was impressed by Zayat Stable’s Just Ben, who won yesterday’s second race by better than 13 lengths. The Speightstown colt led all the way and covered the seven furlongs in 1:21.18 in his fifth career start.
“He was impressive, but so was [Woody Stephens winner] Munnings,” Zito said. “They might hook up at Saratoga [in the Grade 1, $300,000 NetJets King’s Bishop, 3yo, seven furlongs, Saturday, August 29].”
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Trainer Eoin Harty was still disappointed in Mr. Hot Stuff’s eighth-place finish in the Belmont. Mr. Hot Stuff, who was showed promise with third-place finishes in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby and the Grade 3 Sham, raced close to the pace before fading after a mile.
“It didn’t work out to what we had expected,” Harty said. “We’ll take him back to California, start him easy, and see if he shows up again.”
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Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, trainer of ninth-place Belmont Stakes finisher Chocolate Candy, has already returned to California but reports that the horse is doing well. Chocolate Candy is scheduled to ship out of Belmont on Monday.
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Gio Ponti made a late rally to win the Grade 1 Woodford Reserve Manhattan Handicap on Saturday by a length and a half.
“He has come back well from his race and looks fine this morning,” said trainer Christophe Clement. “He won and the length by which he won- he’s a very good horse. He's always been very good to us, he’s just a very nice horse.
“The owners were here yesterday and I think they really enjoyed the win, it was the first time the horse has won in front of them because they live in Europe, but they thoroughly enjoyed the day yesterday. For now, we will just enjoy it. There are many other races. Of course the Dominion is an obvious race which comes into mind, as well as one in the Breeders’ Cup but we don't have to decide that at the moment so let’s enjoy it and we’ll decide later on. He’s traveled well before so that won’t be a problem.”
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Trainer Angel Penna Jr. still can’t figure out how Diamondrella (GB) got away at 9.60-1 in Saturday’s Grade 1 Just A Game at a mile on the turf.
“I don’t bet, but she had won her last five in a row,” Penna said. “I don’t know what the people were looking at.
“I don’t have any immediate plan for her. We got a mile and we got soft [yielding] turf and she came through.”
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Fabulous Strike ran a remarkable race Saturday, first out-slugging longshot Sixthirteen and then holding off defending sprint champion Benny the Bull to win the Grade 2, six-furlong True North Handicap by a length and a quarter in 1:07.85.
“When you’re going a half in 43 and change and Benny the Bull is sitting a comfortable third on a ground-saving trip behind you, you bet I was concerned watching that race,” said trainer Todd Beattie. “But Fabulous Strike is just an amazing horse; he’s a real warrior. He bounced right out of that race and he’s doing well today.”
Beattie shipped the 6-year-old Smart Strike gelding back to Pennsylvania last night, and he was back in his stall by 10 p.m.
“He’ll walk for a few days, and then we’ll start on him again,” Beattie said. “His races are spaced out pretty good, so that allows him to come back strong. We have several options with him. That race in Saratoga early in the meet [Grade 2, Alfred G. Vanderbilt, 3 and up, six furlongs, August 9] has a $250,000 purse and that has a nice ring to it. But we’ll see how he’s doing.”
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Gabby’s Golden Gal won the Grade 1 Acorn on Saturday, covering the mile in 1:34.79 in her one and ¾-lengthupset victory over favored Justwhistledixie. Trained by Bob Baffert, Gabby’s Golden Gal returned $28.40.
“She’s fine, she looks OK- as soon as she got cooled off [yesterday] everything was fine,” said Tonja Terranova, who supervises Baffert’s New York runners. “We’re thrilled with her. She’s a nice little filly and as Bob [Baffert, trainer] had said she does everything right. Since she got to New York, she trained really well into the Acorn. She just does what she does. Javier [Castellano, jockey] said she broke and put her all into it and just got a little overheated at the end. We’re very happy for Arnold and his wife [Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Zetcher, owners] – this is their first Grade 1 winner so they’re very happy.”
Terranova said there are no concrete plans for Gabby’s Golden Gal.
“We’re just going to give her a few days,” she said. “Bob wants to come back and take a look at her to make sure she’s okay and then he'll make a decision about whether she'll stay in New York or go back to California. She'll be here [New York] at least a week or so. We're just waiting to make sure everything is okay and then go with a game plan.”