Hot Rod Charlie Enters Belmont with Full Tank

When the filly Rags to Riches  won the 2007 Belmont Stakes (G1), giving trainer Todd Pletcher his first win in a Triple Crown race, she had a unique pedigree that marked her as perfectly suited for the 1 1/2-mile test. Her sire, A.P. Indy , had won the 1992 Belmont, as did her half brother Jazil  (Seeking the Gold ) in 2006.

Hot Rod Charlie , an Oxbow   colt that is one of the favorites for Saturday's $1.5 million Belmont, doesn't have near the same stamina influences on the dam side of his pedigree. Out of the Indian Charlie  mare Indian Miss , he would appear bred for short or middle-distance success, being a half brother to Mitole   (Eskendereya ), the champion male sprinter of 2019. Mitole won six of seven starts that year, capped by a victory in that fall's six-furlong Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) at Santa Anita Park.

Hot Rod Charlie's female family shows black type from a race on Belmont day, though to the undercard. Two years ago, Mitole won the Runhappy Metropolitan Handicap (G1), also known as the Met Mile, about an hour and a half before Sir Winston  captured the Belmont Stakes.

"There is no doubt when I started training him, that's what I thought; we're going to have a tremendous one-turn dirt horse, which was real exciting to think about," trainer Doug O'Neill said of Hot Rod Charlie. "But when you step back and look at him, he is sort of a lanky sort. He's got tremendous air. We're just seeing a lot of the best qualities of Oxbow and the mare. It's a perfect combination of the sire and dam. He's got a lot of class about him, very personable, has good gate speed if you need it, but he will also settle as well."

Watch: O'Neill Talks Belmont, Partners in Hot Rod Charlie

On Saturday, Hot Rod Charlie will race twice that trip over a distance that neither he nor any of his seven rivals will likely ever run again on dirt. Rare is a 1 1/2-mile main-track race, two to three furlongs longer than other grade 1 dirt races.

Yet it is a race that Hot Rod Charlie could handle if he takes after his sire. Oxbow, by Awesome Again , finished second in the 2013 Belmont Stakes after winning the 1 3/16-mile Preakness Stakes (G1).

Oxbow stands at Calumet Farm near Lexington. Hot Rod Charlie is easily his top performer, having made more than $1.3 million.

"Both Oxbow and his sire line have a history of success at classic distance dirt races," Calumet Farm manager Eddie Kane wrote in an email. "Hot Rod Charlie shows a lot of similar characteristics to Oxbow and should be well suited to succeed in the Belmont."

One of those Hot Rod Charlie will have to beat to capture Belmont glory is a Calumet runner: Bourbonic . The Pletcher trainee upset the Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by Resorts World Casino (G2) at Aqueduct Racetrack this spring before running 13th in the Derby.

Hot Rod Charlie is already a winner at 1 3/16 miles, winning the Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby (G2) at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots in March. Only he and this year's Preakness winner Rombauer have won beyond 1 1/8 miles among Belmont entrants.

With a third-place finish, he also recorded the best finish in the 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) of the five Derby horses that race in the Belmont. He outlasted a wide-rallying and poor-starting Essential Quality by a head for the show position.

Hot Rod Charlie largely saved ground under Flavien Prat. He stalked the pace in fifth, launched a bid to challenge leaving the second turn, and was steady down the lane.

Prat, who also rode Rombauer to victory in the Preakness, returns aboard Hot Rod Charlie in the Belmont. Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez picks up the ride on Rombauer.

Hot Rod Charlie with pony Lava Man ⁦on track in preparation for @BelmontStakes⁩ pic.twitter.com/hQeSFqOF1Q

— Byron King (@BH_BKing) June 2, 2021

"After the Derby, we all huddled up—the owners and Flavien—we were super happy with the ride, the effort from 'Charlie,'" O'Neill said. "Since we didn't win the Derby, it would be in his best interests to not run back in two weeks and just shoot for the Belmont. Everyone was on board and Flavien's agent said, 'You got the call.'

"It did scare me about a week later when it said he was riding in the Preakness. I was like, 'Oh-oh.' I had talked to his agent and he said, 'We got ya,'—win, lose or draw. They've been great about holding to their word. We're extremely grateful for that because, A, he is a tremendous rider, and B, he gets along super with 'Charlie.'"

The California-based Prat has never ridden in the Belmont. He has won the other two legs of the Triple Crown. Prior to winning this year's Preakness, he took the Derby on Country House   in 2019 via the disqualification of Maximum Security   for interference.

O'Neill has also won the first two legs of the Triple Crown. I'll Have Another   won both the Derby and Preakness in 2012, and Nyquist   took the 2016 Derby. Neither raced in the Belmont. Nyquist, third in the Preakness, did not run after developing a fever, and I'll Have Another missed a Triple Crown attempt due to a tendon injury.

"That was definitely a gutshot," O'Neill recalled during a National Thoroughbred Racing Association teleconference. "Fortunately, we had a large team surrounding I'll Have Another, so we quickly huddled up and started reminiscing what an amazing journey I'll Have Another took us on. Instead of feeling sorry for ourselves, we were more just so proud of him and what he'd gone through.

"With Nyquist, being an undefeated Kentucky Derby winner, we definitely went into the Preakness very excited and when that didn't work out perfectly, coming back in three weeks, it was going to be a tough go."

Both I'll Have Another and Nyquist competed for Paul Reddam of Reddam Racing.

Hot Rod Charlie races for a large group of owners—Boat Racing, Roadrunner Racing, Strauss Bros Racing, and Antony Beck's Gainesway Thoroughbreds. The Boat Racing partnership includes O'Neill's nephew, Patrick O'Neill, and other former Brown University football teammates.

O'Neill's family has other ties to the horse. His brother Dennis purchased the colt, bred by the late Ed Cox Jr., for $110,000 from Small Batch Sales' consignment to the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale. Dennis also bought I'll Have Another and Nyquist for Reddam.

Gainesway is the newest member of the ownership team, acquiring a racing stake and the colt's breeding rights in a deal finalized leading up to the Kentucky Derby.

"Obviously, all the big farms are following these 3-year-olds very closely and he's a horse that was on the radar there," said Sean Tugel, director of stallion sales and recruitment for Gainesway. "Mr. Beck is looking to expand his racing and stallion operations and with his pedigree, he was a horse that looked like he had a lot of upside in his racing future. We entered into an agreement there with Bill Strauss and the other partners in the horse, and they allowed us in to enjoy the ride with them."

Stock in Hot Rod Charlie's dam has also soared in recent years following the family's success. Indian Miss, a $240,000 buy by WinStar Farm at the November Breeding Stock Sale at Keeneland in 2018 from the Claiborne consignment, sold at the same sale last fall for $1.9 million to Larry Best's OXO Equine from Hill' n' Dale Sales Agency consignment. Both times she was sold in foal to Into Mischief  .

A grade 1 victory, notably a classic win, could lead to a rewarding eventual stallion career for Hot Rod Charlie. Gainesway currently has seven stallions, led by Tapit  , sire of three Belmont Stakes winners and represented by morning-line favorite Essential Quality  in Saturday's race. Belmont victors Afleet Alex   and Tapwrit   also stand at Gainesway.

"Being second in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) and having won the Louisiana Derby and being beaten barely a length in the Derby, certainly, those are great credentials," Tugel said of Hot Rod Charlie. "And we feel like his pedigree certainly suggests he can only get better as he gets older. He looked like a horse that had a huge chance to win the Derby and go on to win other big races. We think he could be a very high-class 4-year-old as well."

His trainer shares similar hopes.

"Everyone's in it together. Everyone is going to do what's in the best interests of 'Charlie," O'Neill said. "Hopefully, that's a long, healthy, good career."