Todd Pletcher had some words of advice for Irad before the race.
"Be patient," he told us. You have the best last quarter of any horse.
Less is Mo sometimes.
A 1-2 finish and his sixth Triple Crown victory, including four at this track, was the result of Mo Donegal pulling away down the home stretch and holding off filly Nest.
Jerry Crawford said that they were a bit confident going into the race. I forgot about it when he came home. I know that Todd was able to get a strong last quarter mile.
Mo Donegal went around the 1 1/2 mile track in 2 minutes, 28.28 seconds. After winning with Rags to Riches in 2007, Palace Malice in 2013 and Tapwrit in the last year, trainer Todd Pletcher added another title.
The Kentucky Derby winner was sixth.
Mo Donegal beat a wide-open, eight- horse field without a clear favorite - We the People, a monster in the mud, opened at 2 to 1 despite a rainy forecast but reached 7 to 2 by race time.
The favorite was 5 to 2. We the People were in the lead for most of the race, but came to a screeching halt at the final turn.
The colt earned $7.20, $3.80 and $3. The filly paid $5.30 and $4.10 for her second place finish in the Triple Crown race. Skippylongstocking came back with $5.60 to show. The people finished in fourth place.
The first healthy horse to skip the Triple Crown since 1985 was held out of the second leg of the race by the owners and trainer of Rich Striker.
Reed said the team encouraged Sonny Leon to push Rich Strike from the outside, but the horse kept trying to get back inside. Rich Strike was last in the race.
Reed thinks we made a tactical error.
Mo Donegal was at the back of the pack at the Derby but didn't have enough kick to win. He was the winner of the 154th running of the race.
Mike Repole, known around the track as "Mike from Queens," was the winner out of Mo Donegal. Repole is also a co-owner of the nest.
Repole has been dreaming about this for 40 years. It's New York's race.
In the last four years, the Triple Crown races have been won by three different horses.
After the 2020 Stakes were closed to the public due to the swine flu, the race marked a return to form for the track.
The capacity was capped at 50,000 because of congestion concerns from the new arena next to the Islanders. Fans crammed into cars on the Long Island Rail Road and breathed life into the old track with floral headwear, pastel suits and the unmistakable smell of booze and cigars.
The grounds record of 120,139 was broken in 2004. It wasn't much of a surprise given the weather forecast and the lack of a Triple Crown contender.
The field wasn't large. Three races in five weeks may be too tight a schedule to keep the horses healthy as no horse ran all three Triple Crown legs this year.
The winner of the second jewel of the Triple Crown, Early Voting, is expected to be out for the rest of the year. Epicenter was the runner up at the Kentucky Derby.
Matareya won the $500,000Acorn for 3-year-old fillies. The vet told the favorite to scratch at the post.
Matareya ran the mile in 1:35.77.
Flightline overcame an early traffic issue and went on to win the Hill 'N' Dale Metropolitan Mile by six lengths.
The victory was the fourth in a row for the 4-year-oldTapit colt. He had never won by double-digit lengths.
Flightline was trained by John Sadler.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
