Eventful Triple Crown Year Set to End in Belmont Stakes

Given the way the 2019 Triple Crown started, it's understandable how the final leg of the series can be seen as quiet in comparison.

There will not be a Triple Crown on the line June 8 at Belmont Park when the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) is contested for the 151st time.

Nor will there be a rubber match between the winners of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) and the Preakness Stakes (G1).

That sort of excitement faded from the scene when the first three horses across the finish line in the Kentucky Derby bid adieu to the Triple Crown chase for good after the Run for the Roses.

So, after the drama and turmoil of five weeks ago, when Maximum Security became the first winner of the Kentucky Derby to be disqualified for fouling another horse, the Triple Crown will grind to conclusion Saturday with what has taken shape as a much less controversial but nonetheless interesting $1.5 million horse race that will put the 2019 classics in some sort of perspective.

There are a variety of ways this latest Triple Crown chase can fade into history.

Trainer Bill Mott, who was awarded a Kentucky Derby victory when Country House was moved up from second to first, will try to win a Triple Crown race in a more conventional manner with Juddmonte Farms' Tacitus, who was elevated from fourth to third in the Kentucky Derby.

And then there's Gary Barber's War of Will. The son of War Front  was full of run near the quarter pole in the Kentucky Derby when jockey Tyler Gaffalione's search for running room and Maximum Security's wandering brought them together, igniting the bumping incident that led to Maximum Security's disqualification.

There were some thoughts that the bumping cost War of Will a chance to win the race, and that assertion only grew stronger when trainer Mark Casse's handsome colt posted a 1 1/4-length victory in the Preakness.

"The word is satisfaction," Casse said about War of Will's Preakness win. "Revenge was mentioned, but it wasn't revenge. There was satisfaction. I just wanted him to have a fair chance. That's all I wanted. He got it and he responded well."

Now, with the Kentucky Derby furor subsiding—even if a legal challenge over the stewards' decision is ongoing—the Belmont Stakes will give a colt sometimes known as "WOW" a chance to add even more fuel to the fire claiming he was victimized at Churchill Downs.

Those two are the favorites among a field of 10 in the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes, with the line maker giving the edge to Tacitus with a 9-5 price and a 2-1 quote for War of Will, and Mott basically agreed with that assessment.

"I guess (the odds are) fair," Mott said. "There's a lot to like about both horses. I know War of Will is a good horse."

The same can be said of Tacitus. The homebred son of Tapit  won the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby (G2) in his third start and the Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G2) in his fourth before running in the Kentucky Derby. He was one of the main contenders on the first Saturday in May, going off at 5-1 odds. He ran well in rallying from 16th on a sloppy track to come up 3 1/4 lengths short at the wire, especially with some minor traffic issues he faced.

"He had to alter course several times," Mott said about Tacitus' trip with jockey Jose Ortiz in the Kentucky Derby. "He never had to check, he never got stopped. He ate a lot of mud and dirt. It was pea soup that day, which was very disappointing. He was quite a ways back in the field and he had to come through a lot of traffic, but we offer no big excuses except that it wasn't the cleanest trip. He was moving very well at the end of the race."

Given five weeks off after that, Tacitus has been training well for his second meeting with War of Will, who is the only horse to compete in all three legs of the Triple Crown.

"I feel fresh horses run well. That's been the case for me," Mott said. "We have no complaints about (Tacitus) at this moment."

Besides Tacitus, longshots Tax (15-1) and Spinoff (15-1) also ran in the Kentucky Derby and headed to the sidelines for a five-week break. That's a common practice these days, yet for Casse, the plan for War of Will from the outset was to start in all three classics.

"He's an exceptional horse, and he can handle a lot of things. For me, when we start in the Derby, I'm hoping and planning on running in all three races," he said.

Getting to the Kentucky Derby was a bit of a surprise for War of Will, who was bought at the 2018 Arqana May 2-Year-Old Breeze-Up Sale for $298,550 from the Oak Tree Farm consignment. After winning the Lecomte Stakes (G3) and the Risen Star Stakes Presented by Lamarque Ford (G2), War of Will was a 4-5 favorite in the Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby (G2) but finished ninth in his final Kentucky Derby prep after losing his action for a short while.

That race and the memory of the Kentucky Derby have been pushed out of Casse's mind by the far more pleasant thoughts of what happened at Pimlico Race Course three weeks ago.

"The difference between now and after the Kentucky Derby is that for the last few weeks I've been able to think about happy things rather than sad ones," Casse said.

If the favorites falter, as they did in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness with 65-1 (County House) and 6-1 (War of Will) winners, there's no shortage of options.

The most intriguing would have to be Katsumi Yoshizawa's Master Fencer, the 8-1 third choice attempting to become the first Japanese horse to win a Triple Crown race. He staged an impressive rally from 19th to finish sixth in the Kentucky Derby and should appreciate the added distance Saturday. 

A drawback may be his lack of early speed in a race that has been dominated by horses who race on or near the lead. In the past 24 years, only two winners of the Belmont Stakes were 10 lengths or more behind after the opening half-mile. 

"The added distance will be good. It all depends on how the track is playing on Saturday and the pace. After that, it's racing luck," jockey Julien Leparoux said. "I wish I could ride him differently, but you don't want to change the style of your horse, either."

Todd Pletcher, honored on seven occasions with the Eclipse Award as the year's outstanding trainer, has three wins in the Belmont Stakes, which exceed his combined total for the Kentucky Derby (two) and Preakness (none). 

He will be sending out two starters in Spinoff and Intrepid Heart (10-1), both of whom have a nice statistical tie-in.

Spinoff, who was second in the Louisiana Derby, was an ugly 18th in the slop in the Kentucky Derby. He was given a five-week break after that, fitting him into the same mold as Pletcher's 2013 (Palace Malice ) and 2017 (Tapwrit ) winners who rebounded from an unplaced finish in the Kentucky Derby and landed in the winner's circle at Belmont Park.

"He was a good, quality second in the Louisiana Derby, which has proven to be a key race with War of Will winning the Preakness and Country House (fourth) winning the Derby," Pletcher said about Wertheimer and Frere's Spinoff. "Unfortunately, he didn't seem to handle the sloppy going at Churchill as well. He's come back with some very good breezes. I thought in particular his breeze before last when he galloped out a mile in 1:37 3/5 was consistent with the type of gallop outs we've seen from horses that we've had in the past who have been successful in the Belmont."

Intrepid Heart, much like Tacitus, has the pedigree for the 12 furlongs of the Test of the Champion as he's a son of Tapit, the sire of three of the past five editions of the Belmont Stakes. Owned by Lawana and Robert Low, he will be making only his fourth start and is coming off a third-place finish after a stumbling start in the Peter Pan Stakes (G3). He will also be racing with blinkers for the first time.

"Intrepid Heart is bred top and bottom for the Belmont. He has Tapit, Touch Gold, and Commissioner (Intrepid Heart's half brother who was second in the 2014 Belmont Stakes) in his family, horses that ran well in the Belmont, at least sons of Tapit have. So we feel the pedigree is there and he's gaining experience," Pletcher said. "(Jockey) John Velazquez thinks the addition of blinkers will help. His last two breezes have been good, and his recent gallop out in 1:38 3/5 also is consistent with what we've seen before. He's a good galloping horse, and when he gets in a rhythm, he keeps going and going."

There are other contenders such as Calumet Farm's Everfast (12-1), who closed from 11th to finish second in the Preakness, or Bourbon Lane Stable and Lake Star Stable's Bourbon War (12-1), who was eighth in the Preakness but may have needed the race.

R.A. Hill Stable, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Hugh Lynch, and Corms Racing Stable's Tax was 14th in the Kentucky Derby but was only 1 1/4 lengths behind Tacitus in second in the Wood. Tracy Farmer's Sir Winston (12-1), who is also trained by Casse, rallied for second in the Peter Pan, finishing ahead of Intrepid Heart.

The longshot is Joevia (30-1), whose lone appearance in a graded stakes came in the Wood Memorial when he finished seventh but was disqualified to 11th and last.

Disqualified.

There's that word again.

Rest assured, it will be spoken for decades to come about the 2019 Triple Crown. Yet for about two and a half minutes Saturday, 10 3-year-olds will try to script a final chapter to a wild tale through the simple and subdued act of racing around a track and having the best horse win.

Entries: Belmont S. Presented by NYRA Bets (G1)

Belmont Park, Saturday, June 08, 2019, Race 11

• Grade I
• 1 1/2m
• Dirt
• $1,500,000
• 3 yo
• 6:37 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Joevia (KY)	Jose Lezcano	126	Gregory D. Sacco	30/1
2	2Everfast (KY)	Luis Saez	126	Dale L. Romans	12/1
3	3Master Fencer (JPN)	Julien R. Leparoux	126	Koichi Tsunoda	8/1
4	4Tax (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	126	Danny Gargan	15/1
5	5Bourbon War (KY)	Mike E. Smith	126	Mark A. Hennig	12/1
6	6Spinoff (KY)	Javier Castellano	126	Todd A. Pletcher	15/1
7	7Sir Winston (KY)	Joel Rosario	126	Mark E. Casse	12/1
8	8Intrepid Heart (KY)	John R. Velazquez	126	Todd A. Pletcher	10/1
9	9War of Will (KY)	Tyler Gaffalione	126	Mark E. Casse	2/1
10	10Tacitus (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	126	William I. Mott	9/5