Belmont Stakes 2011: Animal Kingdom, and 7 Horses We're Excited to See
The last race of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes, will be run for the 143rd time Saturday. The race is called the "Test of the Champion," and it truly is.
By this time of year, most three-year-olds—especially the Triple Crown contenders—have never run the mile-and-a-half that the Belmont is run, and they may never run it again.
It’s a true test of a horse’s experience and stamina, which makes this race special. The unique configuration of Belmont Park’s main track also adds to the already big challenge these horses face.
The stars of the race are the horses themselves. They are the recognizable figures, the ones we like to root for. They are the ones we remember and talk about for years to come.
This year marks the first time in history that the first seven finishers in the Kentucky Derby return to face each other in the Belmont Stakes. With the addition of the 12th-place finisher, a total of eight Derby starters return.
It's a rematch at a longer distance. There are 12 starters this Saturday, but those first seven Derby finishers are the horses we're excited to see run in this year’s Belmont Stakes. Let's take a quick look at them.
Brilliant Speed
1 of 7
OWNER: Live Oak Plantation
TRAINER: Thomas Albertrani
JOCKEY: Joel Rosario
RECORD: 9-2-2-2
Brilliant Speed is one of the three horses from the Derby to have finished noses apart from fifth to seventh. His traffic problem in the Derby was not being caught in traffic, but having to circle it five-wide all around the final turn.
This horse was the one that had to cover the most ground during the turn and still finished up well. So with a more even path, he could have fared better. This is a horse that has improved in every race and still has an upside. Prior to the Kentucky Derby he showed some talent by winning the Grade 1 Blue Grass.
His connections are top notch. His trainer, Tom Albertrani, knows what it takes to win; he was the trainer of champion three-year-old Bernardini, who won the Preakness. His jockey, Joel Rosario, is the nation’s third jockey by earnings and the West Coast’s leading jockey.
The upside is there. The question with him remains how good he can be on dirt. Besides the Derby, in his other two starts on dirt he finished a well-beaten fourth and seventh. We want to see him answer that question.
Santiva
2 of 7
OWNER: Tom R. Walters
TRAINER: Eddie Kenneally
JOCKEY: Shaun Bridgmohan
RECORD: 7-1-3-1
Santiva finished sixth in the Kentucky Derby, running an even race for most of that race. At the beginning he was the horse close to the rail in front of Animal Kingdom. Being on the rail was a big mistake in the Derby, and he paid for it.
He fell back to 7.75 lengths at the top of the stretch, made his move in between horses through the middle of the track and hooked up with Brilliant Speed during the stretch, edging him by a nose at the wire.
In his prior race, the Blue Grass, he got bottled up behind horses in the stretch and never got to make any kind of a move. Before that, in the Risen Star he finished second to Mucho Macho Man, and last year he won the Kentucky Jockey Club in a duel over Preakness Stakes third-place finisher, Astrology.
Shaun Bridgmohan was the jockey aboard during his lone win in the Kentucky Jockey Club last year and rode him in the Derby, so he knows him well. Discounting the Blue Grass, Santiva has improved in every race, and this time he should not face all the traffic problems he has faced in the past.
We want to see him because if he has a clean trip and keeps improving, he could win this race.
Mucho Macho Man
3 of 7
OWNER: Reeves Thoroughbred Racing
TRAINER: Katherine Ritvo
JOCKEY: Ramon Dominguez
RECORD: 10-2-3-3
Mucho Macho Man is a horse with an impressive physique that will not be a true three-year-old until next week. Before the disappointing Preakness finish, this horse had built up a good resume of hard runs and consistency—good enough to have him considered a top contender in both the Derby and the Preakness.
Last year he had improving back-to-back second-places to former contender To Honor and Serve in the Nashua and Remsen Stakes. On his first race this year, Mucho Macho Man ran out of his comfort zone after some bumps in the Holy Bull and finished fourth to Dialed In.
He bounced back with an impressive win in the Risen Star. Then he finished a hard-fought, valiant third-place finish in the Louisiana Derby to Pants on Fire and Nehro, after losing a shoe.
In the Derby, Mucho Macho Man ran a bit wide at the beginning and drifted a bit during the 16 pole, but he was right by the side of Animal Kingdom at the top of the stretch and could not keep up with him, finishing third and almost catching second-place finisher Nehro.
In the Preakness, he was in tight quarters early on and had a wide trip late to finish a disappointing sixth, seven-and-a-half lengths behind. He also lost another shoe in this race.
Mucho Macho Man's breeding may not allow him to stretch out to the Belmont distance, but we want to see him because he will be using glue-on shoes this time, and he will have the current recipient for the Eclipse Award as Outstanding Jockey, Ramon Dominguez, aboard.
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Master of Hounds
4 of 7
OWNER: Mrs. John Magnier
TRAINER: Aidan P. O'Brien
JOCKEY: Garrett Gomez
RECORD: 8-1-3-1
Master of Hounds is the intriguing horse of this race.
Being based in Europe is hard to measure how good he can be; we have only seen him twice, in last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf and this year’s Kentucky Derby. He was the favorite in the Breeders' Cup race, but finished sixth in the pack behind Pluck and Soldat after running wide.
In the UAE Derby he ran a stalking third early on behind the pace-setter. He pressed on and took the lead clear on the outside shortly after the top of the stretch, only to be edged by a nose on the last jump at the wire by the filly and winner, Khawlah.
In the Kentucky Derby, with Garrett Gomez aboard, Master of Hounds ran a more relaxed race, running 15th, but just seven lengths behind in the early going. He started to make his move at the beginning of the final turn where he ran into traffic and had to maneuver through it.
Garrett found some space on the rail in the home stretch where he made his final move and edged Santiva for fifth by a nose.
Is Master of Hounds good enough to win here?
We want to see him mostly because of that unknown factor about him and because of his connections. His jockey is once again big-race rider Gomez, and his trainer is world-class Aidan O’Brien, who is no stranger to winning big races.
Shackleford
5 of 7
OWNER: Michael Lauffer and Bill Cubbedge
TRAINER: Dale Romans
JOCKEY: Jesus Castanon
RECORD: 7-3-1-0
Shackleford, the Preakness Stakes winner, is another intriguing horse, but for different reasons than Master of Hounds.
After winning two of his first three races, Shackleford finished a disappointing fifth, 23 lengths behind Soldat in the Fountain of Youth. He then came back in the Florida Derby and ran up front before being nosed out at the wire by Dialed In, beating To Honor and Serve and Soldat.
Shackleford's next race was the Kentucky Derby, where he set one of the slowest paces in Derby history; while he held on for fourth, he was faltering at the end.
In the Preakness, the pace was much faster than the Derby. Shackleford pressed early on, but was able to be relaxed after the initial quarter, which may have given him the strength he needed to hold off Animal Kingdom at the end.
Discounting the Fountain of Youth, Shackleford has improved with every race. He also has shown us that with a target up front, he runs much better than when going to the lead.
We we want to see if another horse will provide that target for him, or will he be that target? And even if he has a target, can he get to the mile-and-a-half finish line in front?
At the end of the day, we want to see Shackleford because after denying Animal Kingdom the Triple Crown, this is the first rematch between Kentucky Derby and Preakness winners since 2005.
Nehro
6 of 7
OWNER: Zayat Stables, LLC
TRAINER: Steven Asmussen
JOCKEY: Corey Nakatani
RECORD: 6-1-3-0
Nehro, the Kentucky Derby second-place finisher skipped the Preakness in order to be fresher for the Belmont. He had run four hard races in less than three months and would have had to run two more in a five-week period.
After breaking his maiden in February, Nehro finished second by a neck in the Louisiana Derby to Pants On Fire and in the Arkansas Derby to Archarcharch. In both races he closed fast, and if the races would have been longer, he could have caught them.
In the Derby he had that much more distance, a whole furlong longer. He had to run wide early on, and even though it seemed like he was closer than everyone would have expected, in reality with the slow fractions he was actually running slower than in his previous race in the Arkansas Derby.
Nehro made a strong move in the turn, had Schackleford within his grasp and passed him, but right when he thought he would win it, in came Animal Kingdom flying past him on the outside.
Distance should not be a problem in the Belmont. We want to see him because if he is once again in front of Animal Kingdom, will he be able to hold on this time? Or will he just wait for Animal Kingdom and run with him on a duel to the wire?
Animal Kingdom
7 of 7
OWNER: Team Valor International
TRAINER: H. Graham Motion
JOCKEY: John Velazquez
RECORD: 6-3-3-0
Animal Kingdom is the horse everyone wants to see in the Belmont Stakes. Only the Derby winner is the one who has a shot at a Triple Crown, and that was why we wanted to see him get it. Now he can only aim at two of the crowns, and the Kentucky Derby winner has everything going for him.
Before his win in the Derby, no horse had ever won without having running on dirt. Not since Exterminator in 1918 had a horse won the Derby after so few—four—career starts, and not since Needles in 1956 had a horse won the Derby after a six-week layoff prior to the race like Animal Kingdom had.
His jockey had just picked up the mount the day before, only after he had lost the mount of whom probably would have been the second betting choice in the Derby.
Animal Kingdom has back-to-back 103 Beyer figures in his most important and toughest races to date—the Derby and the Preakness—and has maybe the best late kick among the three-year-old contenders.
Being that his connections are trainer Graham Motion, one of the nation’s top trainers, and his jockey John Velazquez, the nation’s leading jockey in earnings, it almost assures us that he will perform up to his potential.
We want to see him in the Belmont Stakes because we want him to win two out of three of the Triple Crown races.
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