Belmont Stakes

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--Flash back to the fall of 2025. By then, trainer Chad Brown had a good idea that the new batch of young horses that had come into his powerhouse barn had promise. Plenty of promise. The future, he thought, was very good indeed. "I knew we had a really good group of dirt colts heading into their 3-year-old year,'' Brown said outside his barn this week on the Oklahoma Training Track. The leader of the pack was a solid looking chestnut named Paladin (Gun Runner), a $1.9 million...

Repole Stable and Robert and Lawana Low's Renegade (Into Mischief) returned to the worktab at Saratoga Thursday morning for the first time since being outfinished by 'TDN Rising Star' Golden Tempo (Curlin) in the May 2 GI Kentucky Derby, going a half-mile in :49.80 (8/22) in the company of Repole's Powershift (Constitution). Both are possibilities for the $2-million GI Belmont Stakes at Saratoga on June 6. Renegade, a flashy winner of the GI Arkansas Derby ahead of his effort at odds of 11-2 beneath the Twin Spires, worked to the...

The New York Racing Association has created the Belmont Stakes Scholarships, a new initiative that will award five $3,000 scholarships annually to graduating seniors pursuing higher education, NYRA announced Tuesday. The students will be selected from the Sewanhaka Central High School District, which includes Sewanhaka High School, Elmont Memorial High School, Floral Park Memorial High School, H. Frank Carey High School, and New Hyde Park Memorial High School. Applications for the scholarship are now open, with awards supporting students who will attend an accredited two-year or four-year college, university, or...

Wathnan Racing's Commandment (Into Mischief), seventh with a less-than-ideal trip in the GI Kentucky Derby, has begun to gear up for the GI Belmont Stakes at Saratoga June 6. The GI Curlin Florida Derby winner breezed four furlongs for trainer Brad Cox in company in :48.80 (29/83) at Churchill Downs Friday, his first move since the Kentucky Derby. "The breeze went well today and he's come out of the Derby in good order," said Case Clay, Wathnan's Racing Manager, USA. "We'll shoot for the Belmont now." Clay continued, "He did...

Stablemates Iron Honor (Nyquist) and Ottinho (Quality Road) worked four furlongs in :48.00 (10/184) in company over the Belmont Park dirt training track Saturday. The former is expected to line up in the May 16 GI Preakness Stakes at Laurel Park and the latter remains possible for the June 6 GI Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. Iron Honor, owned by St. Elias Stable, William Lawrence, and Glassman Racing, won the Feb. 28 GIII Gotham Stakes and was most recently a troubled seventh in the Apr. 4 GII Wood Memorial....

Klaravich Stable's Growth Equity (Nyquist) exited his two-length victory in the GIII Peter Pan Stakes Saturday in fine shape and the June 6 GI Belmont Stakes remains a possible next target for the bay colt. "He looks good so far," trainer Chad Brown said of Growth Equity's status Sunday morning. "That was a nice step forward. I was glad to see him handle two turns. I thought that he ran well. I think the runner-up is a nice horse. So, that was a nice, positive move forward. No immediate plans...

With a healthy GI Kentucky Derby winner bypassing the GI Preakness Stakes for the second straight year and only two starters out of the 18-horse Derby likely to be entered on Monday, the long-debated realignment of the Triple Crown race spacing is edging more toward "when" than "if." It could happen as soon as 2027, which would be appropriate in the sense that the Triple Crown is already set for a major reset by reverting to established venues and distances after being in flux since 2024 because of the overlapping...

At this point in time, there is no reasonable argument to be made that the Preakness should remain two weeks after the Kentucky Derby. Four winners in just the last seven years (2019-2026) have bypassed the second leg of the Triple Crown. These include Golden Tempo (2026), Sovereignty (2025), Rich Strike (2022), and Country House (2019). How stupid do you want to get? Would you like the American Triple Crown to be a practical non-entity as with the English Triple Crown, where you are extremely lucky to have a participant...

In a statement posted Tuesday afternoon on X, trainer Cherie DeVaux announced that the GI Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo (Curlin) will not be running in the GI Preakness Stakes. It's another blow to the race that has clearly become the weak link in the Triple Crown. The only horse who ran in the Kentucky Derby to commit to the Preakness at this point is the maiden, Ocelli (Connect), who was a surprising third. "After much thoughtful discussion as a team, we have decided that Golden Tempo will bypass the...

Has the time finally come to change the dates of the Triple Crown? In an article posted Apr. 13 on the Sports Business Journal website, it was reported that the GI Preakness Stakes would be pushed back a week to be held three weeks after the GI Kentucky Derby in 2027. Maryland Jockey Club President and General Manager Bill Knauf, however, quickly shot down the report and denied that any decision had been made regarding the date of next year's Preakness. Last year's Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty (Into Mischief) famously...

In an article posted last week in Sports Business Journal, it was reported that the GI Preakness Stakes would be pushed back a week next year to be run three weeks after the GI Kentucky Derby and that the GI Belmont Stakes would also be pushed back by a week. The stir the article caused quickly died down when Maryland Jockey Club President and General Manager Bill Knauf denied that any decisions had been made regarding the date of next year's Preakness. But the story did get some important things...

The late trainers Christophe Clement and John Shirreffs, as well as GI Belmont Stakes-winning filly Rags to Riches (A.P. Indy) are among 13 finalists who will appear on this year's ballot for inclusion in the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame. Clement, who passed away last spring, trained Eclipse champion Gio Ponti, as well as Belmont Stakes winner Tonalist. Shirreffs, who passed away earlier this month, trained four-time champion Zenyatta, as well as GI Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo. The two trainers are joined on the ballot by Ken McPeek,...