SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (AP) — When Luis Saez rode Dornoch for the first time at Saratoga Race Course last summer, he told trainer Danny Gargan, “I’ve got a Derby winner.”
That didn’t happen, but Dornoch realised that optimism on Saturday. The first Belmont Stakes At Saratoga, he ran along the rail and held off Mind Frame to pull off a major upset at 17-1 odds in the final race of the Triple Crown.
Horse Co-owned by World Series champion Jayson Werth Five weeks after finishing 10th in the Kentucky Derby where he ran into trouble, Dornoch won the Belmont Stakes, this time behind She’s the Gray in the lead. Preakness winner He caught up in the final seconds and won by 1 1/2 lengths.
“It’s as good a feeling as winning on the biggest stage. Horse racing is hands down the most underrated sport in the world,” said Worth, who won a major league championship with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2008. “The biggest game — the Derby, the Preakness, the Belmont Stakes. We just won the Belmont Stakes. There’s no greater feeling in horse racing. There’s no greater feeling in sports.”
It was Gargan’s first Triple Crown victory and Saez’s second Belmont Stakes victory, and Saez said he has never lost faith in Dornoch.
“He’s one of the top 3-year-old horses in the country and we’ve always thought that,” Gargan said. “He’s run his race and he’s won. If he’s able to run, he’s always going to be tough to beat.”
It was the sixth consecutive year that different horses have won each of the Triple Crown races. Sierra Leone, who started as the favorite after finishing second in the Derby, came in third and Honor Mary came in fourth.
Dornoch won $37.40 for first place, $17.60 for second and $8.10 for third. Mind Frame, trained by Todd Pletcher, won $6.80 for second and $4.20 for third, while Sierra Leone, after a mixed start and further direction problems, won $2.60 for third place.
Dornoch had no such problems, winning at a racecourse known as a graveyard for championship favourites due to the number of upsets it sees.
“Nobody believed in this horse,” Gargan said. “I’m speechless. He’s such a talented horse.”
Even though there is no Triple Crown on the line, the race takes place at the historic Belmont Racecourse. Run at Saratoga It’s the first time in the venue’s 161-year history that the event will be held again next year when Belmont Park undergoes major renovations. $455 million rebuild There are plans to bring the Triple Crown races back to New York Racecourse in 2026.
To hold the event in Saratoga Race shortened to 1.5 miles Dornoch was moved from the usual “Trial of Champions” distance of one and a half miles that had been a feature of Belmont Racecourse for nearly a century. This temporary change allowed for the participation of better horses who had run in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, or both. Over the one and a half mile distance, Dornoch finished in a time of 2:01.64.
Gargan doesn’t believe the outcome would have been different if the race had been the normal distance.
“I don’t think anybody was closing in on him,” Gargan said. “I’ll have to watch it again. I was kind of jumping up and down with excitement when he got out. It didn’t seem like anybody was making any bold moves.”
Dornoch has already won the Belmont Stakes, but the 3-year-old has a long way to go, and Gargan has his sights set on another race this year against a similar field and course.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we wait to run him on the Traverse,” Gargan said, “but we’ll have to wait and see.”
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AP Sports Writer Stephen Whyno contributed.
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