When Luis Saez first rode Dornoch at Saratoga Race Course final summer season, he informed coach Danny Gargan, “You’ve got the Derby winner.”
Whereas that didn’t come true, Dornoch made good on that optimism Saturday by profitable the first Belmont Stakes at Saratoga, hugging the rail and holding off Mindframe to spring a serious upset within the Triple Crown finale at odds of 17-1.
The horse co-owned by World Collection champion Jayson Werth gained the Belmont 5 weeks after a troubled journey led to a Tenth-place end within the Kentucky Derby. This time, Dornoch sat off chief Seize the Gray, handed the Preakness winner down the stretch and held on for a 1 1/2-length victory.
“I’d put it proper up there with profitable on the largest stage. Horse racing is essentially the most underrated sport on this planet, bar none,” stated Werth, who gained Main League Baseball’s championship with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2008. “It’s the largest recreation: You get the Derby, the Preakness, the Belmont. We simply gained the Belmont. That is pretty much as good because it will get in horse racing. It’s pretty much as good because it will get in sports activities.
It’s the primary win in any Triple Crown race for Gargan and the second within the Belmont for Saez, who stated he by no means misplaced religion in Dornoch.
“He’s one of many high 3-year-olds within the nation, and we’ve all the time thought it,” Gargan stated. “We let him run his race, and he gained. If he will get to run, he’s all the time going to be robust to beat.”
It’s the sixth consecutive yr a distinct horse gained every of the three Triple Crown races. Sierra Leone, the Derby runner-up who went off as the favourite, was third and Honor Marie fourth.
Dornoch paid $37.40 to win, $17.60 to put and $8.10 to indicate. Todd Pletcher-trained Mindframe paid $6.80 to put and $4.20 to indicate and Sierra Leone paid $2.60 to indicate after a jumbled begin and extra directional issues.
There have been no such points for Dornoch, who triumphed on the observe often called the graveyard of favorites for its penchant for upsets.
“Nobody believed on this horse,” Gargan stated. “It is speechless. He’s such a proficient horse.”
Regardless of there not being a Triple Crown on the road, it is a historic Belmont as a result of the race was run at Saratoga for the primary time within the venue’s 161-year historical past. It returns subsequent yr whereas Belmont Park undergoes a large, $455 million reconstruction with the plan for the Triple Crown race to return to the New York observe in 2026.
Having it at Saratoga necessitated shortening the race to 1 1/4 miles from the same old “check of the champion” 1 1/2-mile distance that has been an indicator of the Belmont for almost a century. The non permanent change contributed to getting extra high quality horses into the sphere who beforehand ran within the Kentucky Derby, Preakness or each. At 1 1/4-mile distance, Dornoch crossed the wire in a time of two:01.64.
Gargan doesn’t suppose if the race have been on the traditional distance the end result would’ve been any completely different.
“I don’t suppose anyone was attending to him,” Gargan stated. “I’d have to observe it once more. I sort of received excited leaping round there when he received clear. I didn’t see anyone actually making a daring transfer.”
Dornoch now has the Belmont Stakes beneath his belt, however the 3-year-old nonetheless has a whole lot of miles on him. Gargan is eyeing one other race doubtlessly this yr taking up an identical discipline and course.
“I wouldn’t be shocked if we simply wait and run him within the Travers,” Gargan stated. “However, we’ll have to attend and see.”
Mystik Dan gained the a hundred and fiftieth Kentucky Derby in a photograph end, with Sierra Leone and Ceaselessly Younger following in 2nd and third.
___
AP Sports activities Author Stephen Whyno contributed.