The 2019 Triple Crown is about to conclude at Belmont Stakes like it used to in years past. There are plenty of intriguing horses who will take part at the 151st running of these historic competition. Will we wee War of the Will double up on his Preakness Stakes win? Or will a another horse’s owner will take home the August Belmont Trophy?
Expect Tacitus to come into the Belmont Stakes with fresh legs, as it did not participate in the Preakness Stakes. Instead, he is spending most of the time between his third-place finish at the Kentucky Derby and the upcoming event in Elmont resting and conditioning himself for the last leg of the Triple Crown. Trained by William Mott, Tacitus was among the horses to watch in the lead up to the Derby after nailing back-to-back first-place campaigns at the Tampa Bay Derby (Grade 2 stakes) and at the Wood Memorial (Grade 2 stakes), respectively. Speaking of Mott, the trainer is seemingly liking what he’s seeing of the horse during workouts, per Horse Racing Nation.
“It was very good, very even; I liked the rhythm of it – 12, 12, 12, 12. Each furlong was in about 12 seconds and he went out six furlongs in about 1:12, so I thought it was a very steady, solid work,” said Mott.
How can War of Will not be considered as among the top contenders to win the Belmont Stakes? After all, he ruled the Preakness Stakes this year. The victory at Pimlico Race Course was the fourth of War of Will’s career, as he also won at the Risen Star (Grade 2 stakes), at Lecomte (Grade 3 stakes) and at a maiden special weights event. The win at the Preakness Stakes was also a strong rebound statement for the horse, which has not shown in each of the past two races, settling for a seventh-place finish at the Kentucky Derby and a ninth-place campaign at the Louisiana Derby (Grade 2 stakes).
Owendale was one of the sexy sleepers pick for the 2019 Preakness Stakes, and he should be considered once again for the Belmont Stakes. While he did not get the job done at Pimlico Race Course, he still managed to finish third – a solid follow-up to his win at the Lexington Grade 3 stakes.
With 10 races under his belt, Everfast can be considered as one of the most battle-tested horse whose name has been entered to compete at Belmont Stakes. In his most recent outing, Everfast nearly took home at the Preakness Stakes, where he finished second — only his second show since placing first in his inaugural race in August of last year. Trainer Dale Romans is excited at what Everfast can do moving forward following the surprise finish at Pimlico Race Course, per Churchill Downs.
“He really surprised a lot of us in a good way after running so well in the Preakness,” Romans said. “We’ll see what lies ahead of him the rest of the 3-year-old campaign.”
Tax has severely deflated his value after a poor 14th-place finish at the Kentucky Derby. Tax entered the race at Churchill Downs having shown in all of his past three races, including a second at the Wood Memorial (Grade 2 stakes) and a win at Withers (Grade 3 stakes), but was completely blown away by the competition at the Derby. Trainer Danny Gargan admitted that the forgettable performance of Tax at the Derby was partly a product of a bad tactic, but believed that his horse should perform much better at Belmont Stakes, per Blood Horse.
“We didn’t do much running in the Derby. I expected the track to be sealed tight, so I told him to stay on the inside, and they harrowed it and it was kind of a disaster,” Gargan said. “We didn’t do that right thing by getting on the rail when it was so deep. It is what it is, and we’ll just move on to the next race. Hopefully, the Belmont will be a good track that day and we can show that we can run with these horses.”
