Hill Road, the third-place finisher behind Citizen Bull and Gaming in last November’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, is now with trainer Chad Brown and had his first workout Sunday at Payson Park, going three furlongs in 37 seconds.
While Hill Road is a longshot to make the Kentucky Derby, Brown said it’s not impossible for him to enter a different Triple Crown race – perhaps the Belmont Stakes on June 7 at Saratoga.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y - While heavy rain fell outside his barn Sunday morning, Dornoch was inside his stall attacking his hay net early with an energy belying the fact he just ran a hard race to win Saturday’s $2 million Belmont Stakes.
“He’s all pumped this morning,” trainer Danny Gargan said. “That’s just the way he is. He was pissed after the Derby.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After watching Mindframe stick his head in front of Dornoch in early stretch, one couldn’t blame trainer Todd Pletcher, owner Mike Repole, and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. for thinking they were on their way to winning Saturday’s historic, first-ever Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. Unfortunately, the two intangibles they feared the most coming into the race – his inexperience and the added distance – likely wound up proving the difference between what would have been a memorable victory and a most frustrating defeat.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The last time the Kentucky Derby runner-up won the Belmont Stakes was in 2003 when Empire Maker denied Funny Cide the Triple Crown. Bobby Frankel trained Empire Maker. A then 24-year-old Chad Brown worked for Frankel as an assistant.
“Way down on the totem pole as far as responsibility,” said Brown, who was not at Belmont Park that soggy June day.
Brown, now 45, has climbed to the top of his profession since going out on his own in 2007. He frequently employs lessons learned from Frankel, whose picture adorns the wall of his Belmont Park office.
It’s a major change on the spring schedule: The Belmont Stakes will be contested Saturday at Saratoga Race Course, at a distance of 1 1/4 miles. The massive renovation of Belmont Park necessitates the move for the next two years; the configuration of Saratoga’s 1 1/8-mile track necessitates the distance shift from the traditional 1 1/2 miles.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Dornoch looks to restore somewhat of a tarnished image when he starts as a probable longshot in a field of 10 in Saturday’s $2 million Belmont Stakes at Saratoga.
Coming off a solid 2-year-old campaign, one in which he defeated Sierra Leone in the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct, Dornoch’s 3-year-old campaign has been relatively underwhelming.
Monday, June 3
Saratoga
Weather: Clear
Temperature: 58
Track: Fast
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – With all the heavy lifting over, Monday proved a relatively quiet day on the Belmont Stakes training front with much of the activity that did occur taking place early over the very popular Oklahoma training track.
SARATOGA
Weather: Clear
Track: Fast
Temperature: 54
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The final piece of the Belmont Stakes workout puzzle fell into place nicely around 7:45 a.m. Sunday morning over the Oklahoma training track. Wood Memorial winner RESILIENCE solidified his spot in the lineup with a very solid half-mile breeze in 47.88 seconds that delighted a gathering of about two-dozen spectators, none more so than his Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.
