It rained sporadically today - the main track at Belmont was listed as either muddy or sloppy, and the turf surface was called good. There was a lot of mud being splattered and thrown by the front runners in today's races. The filly's race, The Acorn Stakes at one mile, was won by It's Tricky by a rousing 3 3/4 lengths. Turbulent Descent was second, Her Smile was third, and my pick, Snow Fall, finished fifth of six entries.
Nobody saw Ruler On Ice as winning the Belmont - he was sent off at 24 to 1 odds, and it was jockey Jose Valdivia's first mount in a Classic race. (But first, let's revisit the 2000 Kentucky Derby, when a lightly raced colt named Fusaichi Pegasus had a surprising victory, then ran second in the Preakness. The Pegasus was then switched to turf racing, where he won a lot of handicaps and Gold Cups.) Fusaichi Pegasus is the grandsire of Ruler On Ice; his son, Roman Ruler missed the Triple Crown races in 2005, due to bad feet and injuries, but returned as a very good distance-runner. So Ruler On Ice really has the breeding for the distance, as well as a ton of Man O' War blood in the females of his family. Shackleford just couldn't keep his speed up for the full mile-and-a-half, while Animal Kingdom clipped heels with the horse to his inside shortly after leaving the gate. The heel clipping incident caused Animal Kingdom to almost fall, while jockey John Velaquez almost flipped over AK's head and neck, losing his stirrups. Animal Kingdom was never a contender in the race after that. Ruler On Ice won the third leg of the Triple Crown, with Stay Thirsty in second place and Brilliant Speed finishing in third. .... More tomorrow!
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