Exaggerator Floats Turn in Belmont Breeze

Reunited with Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux for the first time since their victory in the Preakness Stakes (gr. I) May 21, Exaggerator breezed five furlongs June 7 at Belmont Park in his final work prior to the Belmont Stakes (gr. I).

The likely favorite for the 1 1/2-mile Belmont, the final and longest jewel of the Triple Crown, Exaggerator went out at about 8:45 a.m. EDT following the renovation break and completed the distance in 1:00 4/5 on a fast main track.The Belmont will be run June 11.

"I think the best answer I can say is, in comparison, he was the same. Good energy, lots of fluidity," Desormeaux said. "So, all systems go."

The workout was the first for Exaggerator since a week before his second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) May 7. He came back two weeks later to upset previously undefeated Derby winner Nyquist in the Preakness at Pimlico Race Course and arrived in New York May 29.

"That's a good thing being the same after two races in a little over four weeks today. It'll be five weeks on Saturday," trainer Keith Desormeaux said. "As a trainer, the time is of secondary importance. You want to see the horse recovers after the work. If I get back to the barn and he's bug-eyed and he's sweating and he's panting, then that means he struggled over the track.

"When I got back to the barn, his sweat had already dried up. He had a nice calm, confident look in his eye and he was under control, so it looks like we're in good shape."

Praise continued for Big Chief Racing, Head of Plains Partners, and Rocker O Ranch's Exaggerator for his ability to recover quickly, morning or afternoon.

"(After the work) his recovery was 20 feet," Kent Desormeaux said. "He took a deep breath, I turned him around, he sucked some air in and walked home like he had just been stable walking. He did switch leads early; I probably knocked him off balance. It was probably my fault. It was no concern of mine.

"I gave it to him, he floated the turn for maybe 20, 40, 50 yards, I asked him to come back to center which for me is the two-path. He straightened away to the eighth-pole, I asked him to quicken and he was full of life and full of speed."

Keith Desormeaux, who will start his first horse in the Belmont, a race his brother won in 2009 with Summer Bird, watched the breeze from the box seat area at the finish line above the winner's circle.

"(Kent) made the perfect comment to me when (he) said he has never been on his left lead that long. That's exactly right," he said. "These are huge, sweeping turns here. He wasn't accustomed to being on that left lead that long, so that's why he switched to his right early at the five-sixteenths pole. It's a perfect reason. Regardless, it wasn't a concern."

Entries will be taken and post positions drawn June 8 at 11 a.m. at the Rock Center Café and Summer Garden in Rockefeller Center in Manhattan.

Exaggerator is expected to head a field of 13 along with Brody's Cause, Cherry Wine, Creator,Destin, Forever d'Oro, Gettysburg, Governor Malibu,Lani, Seeking the Soul, Stradivari, Suddenbreakingnews, and Trojan Nation.