Belmont Diaries: Triple Crown Challengers Work

American Pharoah is certainly the most talked-about horse heading into the June 6 Belmont Stakes, but he has some strong competition lined up in the Test of the Champion. Some of his challengers were scheduled to work out this morning at Belmont Park. Naturally, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to see the horses who seek to defeat the Pharoah, so I was up and at ‘em bright and early this morning to check them out.
Really bright and early.

That was a tough alarm to heed, but fortunately (with a little help from my coffee pot) I was up and on my way to Big Sandy (the Belmont Park track’s nickname) by 4:45. I arrived at the track just in time to see a glorious sunrise, and after dumping my computer in the press box I made my way to the racetrack to take in the sensational morning.

It was truly spectacular out, with a clear sky and the sun radiating a mellow golden light as horses emerged onto the oval to take their morning exercise.

While I was waiting for the Belmont Stakes contenders to arrive for their workouts, I was lucky enough to see some of my favorite horses out on the track. For example, I spotted the lovely Discreet Marq, an amazingly talented race mare under the care of trainer Christophe Clement. She’s just gorgeous, and I may have made high-pitched squealing noises when I caught sight of her heading onto the track. You can tell that the rider totally heard me by the look on his face in the first photo.

I also spotted Tonalist, who won last year’s Belmont Stakes and will be running in the Metropolitan Mile on June 6 here at Big Sandy:

Here’s my eternal horse crush, the angelic Honor Code, who will also be competing in the Met Mile:

He looks very fit and I think he could definitely get a piece of the pie a week from tomorrow.
I wasn’t the only one there scouting out the action; we were joined by the Belmont hawk, a soaring beauty who surveyed the track from lofty heights. 

I was very excited to see him; unfortunately, the sparrows didn’t agree and immediately commenced an attack. 

The hawk retired to his nest, and I readied my camera because the first of the Belmont Stakes challengers was emerging onto the track to put in a workout for the big race.
Madefromlucky and Carpe Diem, both trained by Todd Pletcher, took to the dirt; Madefromlucky escorted himself around, while Carpe Diem was accompanied by a pony horse (basically an equine companion who helps racehorses stay calm and focused until it’s showtime).

The two Belmont challengers were breezing – that’s training at just about racing speed – and they worked out together, so it was very interesting to see how they did. Carpe Diem (the horse on the outside) and Madefromlucky neared the finish line together at the end of their breeze; but as they came down to the wire Carpe Diem took the lead, and after the finish line, he galloped out strongly in front.

The next Belmont Stakes runner to show up was Tale of Verve; he was second in the Preakness Stakes and is definitely an interesting contender, so I was curious to see how he looked as he took a lap or two around the track. 

I have to say, he looks pretty fantastic; while he only galloped (a notch below breezing) he was very strong, and I could see him pulling on his rider to try to go faster on their second circuit around the Belmont Park oval. 

I hate to say it, but I barely caught sight of Mubtaahij, one of my favorite challengers to American Pharoah in the Belmont Stakes. He almost snuck past me, but I can say that, from my brief glimpse, he looks fantastic! 

He’s definitely on my short list for Triple Crown spoilers. 
After that, there was a brief break to recondition the track with tractors and harrows. I took the opportunity to schlep to the track kitchen to get a gigantic coffee, then lounged on the trackside benches to wait for the horses to resume training. 

When the track opened back up for the Thoroughbreds, the first Belmont Stakes horse I saw was Materiality. 

He was scheduled to work out with Stanford, who is the horse on the outside in the photos below. While Materiality stayed pretty much eye-to-eye with his workmate throughout the breeze; at the very end, Stanford passed him to get head in front at the wire. While that’s not the worst outcome of a pre-Belmont Stakes work, I was a little sorry not to see him win the contest.

The last Belmont Stakes worker this morning was the one who was most impressive to me: Frosted. He’s a stunning Thoroughbred, for sure, but it was what he did in his breeze that wowed me the most. 

At about an eighth of a mile from the finish line, Frosted and his workmate Tamarkuz (who, it should be noted, won the $1 million Godolphin Mile in Dubai this March) were just about evenly matched; however, as they neared the wire Frosted just cruised, besting the older horse easily.

It was very, very interesting to say the least; that’s pretty impressive for a young horse and Frosted definitely looks like he feels at home at Belmont Park. 
Of course, Frosted and all of the other Belmont Stakes challengers have a very difficult horse to face in American Pharoah, but it all comes down to who can get here first in the Test of the Champion on June 6:

So let me know in the comments who you’ll be rooting for, and I hope you enjoy all of the Belmont Stakes festivities to come in the next eight days!