SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- It was around a year ago at this time, before the horse had ever run a race, trainer Danny Gargan proclaimed Dornoch as the best horse he’s ever trained. “No one’s arguing that now,” Gargan said. Gargan, his voice hoarse from screaming, spoke after Dornoch pulled off a 17-1 upset in Saturday’s $2 million Belmont Stakes, holding off an erratic-running Mindframe by a half-length before a raucous crowd announced as 50,000 at Saratoga. The race was being held at Saratoga and at 1 1/4 miles owing to the renovation of Belmont Park where the race is run at 1 1/2 miles. “It’s the reason we train these horses,” Gargan, 53, said. “To win a classic race, it’s everything. It’s the biggest race I ever won. He’s the best horse I ever trained.” The previous best horse Gargan trained was Tax, an earner of $1.1 million who won the Jim Dandy Stakes here in Saratoga in 2019. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. Dornoch is a full-brother to 2023 Kentucky Derby winner Mage. Gargan had liked Mage at the 2-year-old-in-training sale in 2022 but didn’t buy him. With the help of his girlfriend Megan Jones, Gargan was able to buy this yearling son by Good Magic out of the dam Puca for $325,000 at the Keeneland yearling sale in September 2022. Gargan ultimately found plenty of partners for the horse including West Paces Racing, Randy Hill and former major-league baseball player and World Series champion Jayson Werth, who races under the moniker Two Eight Racing Stables, representing his uniform number. Werth entered horse ownership three years ago. He experienced winning a classic with the first colt he ever owned. “I put it up there with anything I ever done,” Werth, who won the 2008 World Series with the Philadelphia Phillies said. “Horse racing is the most underrated sport there is. This is as big as it gets, this is the emotions you feel when you win a playoff game, when you win a World Series game, arguably when you win a World Series. “The top of sports is the top of sports and that’s where we’re at,” Werth added. Dornoch, who also counts among his owners Belmar Racing and Pine Racing Stables, is named for a golf resort in Scotland. After winning the Grade 2 Remsen last December at Aqueduct, Dornoch went into the winter as one of the top contenders for the Kentucky Derby. He won the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream, but finished fourth in the Blue Grass Stakes when an attempt was made to rate the horse. In the Kentucky Derby, Dornoch finished 10th after breaking slowly from the rail and being out of position early in the race. “I got him beat in the Blue Grass, the one-hole got him beat in the Derby,” Gargan said. In the Belmont, all Gargan wanted was a chance for Dornoch to run his race. Breaking from post 6, Dornoch was sent toward the front by Luis Saez. Entering the first turn, after a quarter run in 22.99 seconds, Dornoch was second, a half-length off the Preakness winner Seize the Grey. At that point, Gargan said he turned to Hill and said, “Well, we have no excuses today, Randy.” None were needed. Dornoch stayed right off the flank of Seize the Grey through a half-mile in 47.25 seconds and six furlongs in 1:10.67. At the three-eighths pole, Dornoch put a head in front of Seize the Grey, who, under Jaime Torres, tried to fight back along the inside. Meanwhile, Mindframe, who had moved into third after racing in the second flight down the backside, was advancing toward the leaders. Dornoch put away Seize the Grey by the three-sixteenths pole. Mindframe, under Irad Ortiz’s left-handed whip, began to drift out. Ortiz straightened Mindframe away quickly but Dornoch kept going and was able to hold on. Mindframe, making just his third career start, finished second by one length over Sierra Leone, the Kentucky Derby runner-up and the Belmont favorite. Honor Marie, who was last early, finished fourth, followed by Antiquarian, Protective, Seize the Grey, Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan, The Wine Steward, and Resilience. Dornoch covered the 1 1/4 miles in 2:01.64, earning a 100 Beyer Speed Figure, and returned $37.40 as the third-longest price in the 10-horse field. Saez, who won his second Belmont in four years, said he was happy to have a target early in the race. He said he felt confident when Mindframe came back at him that Dornoch would put up a fight. “That horse came with a big run, but I know Dornoch pretty well,” Saez said. “And I know when he feels them, he’s gonna come again and try to beat him, like in the Remsen.” Said Gargan, “I thought for a minute he had us. Then we found some more.” Mindframe ran a giant race for a horse that made just two previous starts. His inexperience likely cost him the victory. “That’s what Irad said,” Todd Pletcher, the trainer of Mindframe, who now has nine seconds in the Belmont Stakes to go along with his four wins. “He said he lost focus for a moment then when he angled him back in to see Dornoch, then he started closing again. You got be proud of the horse, proud of his effort. He validated what we think of him, but you hate to be that close and not win.” Sierra Leone came even closer when he lost the Kentucky Derby a nose to Mystik Dan, lugging in during the stretch run of that race. Trainer Chad Brown changed bits and changed riders, but Sierra Leone appeared to lug in again in the stretch under Flavien Prat. Brown felt a rough start -- he stumbled at the break and bumped with Mindframe -- combined with the speed-favoring nature of the track, worked against his horse Saturday. “He got knocked back pretty far. He was never able to engage the bit until the quarter pole. It looked like he really wasn’t going anywhere,” Brown said. “He just grabbed the bit late. He came on and just missed and it’s a hard track to close ground on. It was disappointing the way they had the track today, to be honest with you. It doesn’t surprise me that a speed horse won the race.” Honor Marie was last early and closed to be fourth in what was a better-than-it-looks effort on paper. Seize the Grey, the Preakness winner, faded to seventh, beaten 12 3/4 lengths while Kentucky Derby winner and Preakness runner-up Mystik Dan finished eighth, beaten 15 3/4 lengths. Though Seize the Grey won the Preakness on the front end, he had a fairly uncontested lead in that race. Saturday, “I had the other horse right on me. I think he didn’t like it,” Torres said. Mystik Dan was four lengths off the pace for the opening mile, but had nothing to offer in the stretch under Brian Hernandez Jr. Kenny McPeek, the trainer of Mystik Dan, said Hernandez told him, “The track was a little heavy for him. It looked deep inside, speed didn’t back up too much. I thought maybe he’d be a little closer than that.” --additional reporting by Nicole Russo :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.