GI Belmont S. | Horse Racing Free Tips

Il Miracolo Finalizes Belmont Prep At Gulfstream

Alexandres LLC's Il Miracolo (Gun Runner) breezed five furlongs at Gulfstream Park Friday morning in preparation for a scheduled start in next Saturday's GI Belmont Stakes.

He was timed in 1:00.88, the fastest clocking of four recorded at the distance. The Antonio Sano trainee is coming off a front-running score at Gulfstream in an optional claiming allowance at a mile May 11 in his first start since finishing sixth to 'TDN Rising Star' Forte in the GI Curlin Florida Derby.

“The horse wants distance and is doing really good, so we'll try,” Sano said.

Marcos Meneses will have the return mount aboard Il Miracolo who is scheduled to ship to Belmont Park Saturday.

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Dave Johnson Joins TDN Writers’ Room, Talks Secretariat

On that June afternoon nearly 50 years ago, Dave Johnson was there to witness one of the most memorable moments in the history of horse racing. As the NYRA track announcer, he called Secretariat's win in the GI Belmont S., an event he, and anyone who was there that day, will never forget. To share his memories, Johnson joined the team for this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland. Johnson was this week's Green Group Guest of the Week.

He recalled that Secretariat came around at the perfect time, that the country was looking for a hero and a heroic story after the struggles of the late sixties and early seventies.

“There was Watergate and Vietnam, and this was before people scratched off lottery tickets and before sports books and casinos,” he said. “Racing was the great place to go and make a legal bet. And then along comes this great horse with a great crew. You had Lucien Laurin training and Ronnie Turcotte riding and Mrs. Tweedy was a great cheerleader. She just she captured the audience. When you'd see her on television rooting for a horse, you wanted her to win. So it was all of those things that came together with this magnificent animal. Secretariat just came at the right time and with the right people and at a time where the sport didn't have the problems it has now. People loved Secretariat and loved the story, and it was a hell of a story.”

In that era, announcers were not allowed to call the finish of a race because that was seen as a violation of the Wire Act of 1938, which was meant to discourage bookmaking. But he did his best to let his audience know that something special was taking place.

“I called Secretariat in front by 25 lengths at the sixteenth-pole,” he said. “I had never called a horse in a race other than a steeplechase race in front by that much. So I called him in front by 25 lengths at the sixteenth pole and then I shut the mic off at the 70-yard mark saying Secretariat wins the Triple Crown or something like that. I don't think NYRA has the call. But that's what I remember, how gigantic the margin of victory was. It seems like yesterday. It doesn't seem like 50 years ago.”

Johnson has called hundreds of major races, including a slew of Triple Crown events while working for ABC. But nothing, he said, will ever top the 1973 Belmont.

“It was the greatest spectacle in my lifetime of watching horse races,” Johnson said. “If you brought any horse in the world to the Belmont that afternoon at a mile-and-a-half, Secretariat would have beat them. It was it was just spectacular. It was the greatest moment for me in horse racing. I don't think you'll ever match it.”

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by Coolmore,https://lanesend.com/ the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders, 1/st Racing, WinStar Farm, XBTV, Lane's End and https://www.threechimneys.com/ West Point Thoroughbreds, the team of Bill Finley, Zoe Cadman and Randy Moss discussed the news surrounding the National Thoroughbred League, the new racing initiative that hopes to bring the team aspect that is at the core of other sports to racing. There was some skepticism that it will succeed and Moss pointed out just how expensive it will be purchase the 36 horses that will be needed to form the racing teams. But there was agreement that the league deserves a chance and they applauded its founders for trying something new and different that could bring new fans to the sport. The rash of fatalities at Churchill Downs took up much of the podcast. As is the case with just about everyone in the industry, the team doesn't see there being any magic bullets but was in agreement that the situation is a terrible problem for a sport holding on dearly to its social license to operate. And how will Rich Strike (Keen Ice) do now that he has been turned over to Bill Mott? The consensus was that Mott will have his work cut out for him but that if anybody can get last year's GI Kentucky Derby winner back to top form it is his new trainer.

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John Velazquez Joins TDN Writers’ Room Podcast

The credit for the win in the GI Preakness S. goes to National Treasure (Quality Road), but the assist goes to Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez. Able to get to the lead and then slow the pace down to a crawl, Velazquez put in a perfect ride on his way to his first ever win in the Preakness. Fresh off his victory, Velazquez joined this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland. He was this week's Green Group Guest of the Week.

“It was just one of those things that worked out perfect,” Velazquez said of his Preakness trip. “You plan it but you never dream that you'll have the trip we had. The only thing that I was worried about…I saw Irad Ortiz (the rider of Blazing Sevens (Good Magic) warming up his horse in the post parade and I thought he was going try to get closer to the pace. If he wanted to get close to that pace, he was going to have to go fast enough to go across from me. So when I broke, I started drifting my horse out. So then when I pushed him out he started grabbing his horse back and he went backwards. I thought, 'Okay, he's out of there'. And I went right back to the inside. And that kind of slowed the pace really well.”

The race came down to National Treasure and Blazing Sevens in the stretch and National Treasure gamely held off his rival to win by a head. Velazquez and Ortiz were in close quarters the whole way and the two bumped. It sometimes seems that every time Ortiz is in a stretch battle something happens. Velazquez's thoughts on Ortiz and whether or not he too often crosses a line?

“I don't think he's a dirty rider,” Velazquez said. “I think he definitely crosses the line and does it a lot. I have talked to him many times. I try to teach him that we can be aggressive, but we have a line that we have to put in there. For him, it's hard to control. For me, I've been riding for a long time, so I always try to take the edge as much as I can, but try not to cross those lines. We all make mistakes. But I try to make as few mistakes as possible so I don't cross the line.”

Velazquez also revealed that he was almost taken off of National Treasure before the Preakness.

“I had to plead my case,” he said. “I made a few phone calls and I pleaded my case. I had to explain what happened in the Derby (where he rode Reincarnate (Good Magic), who was surprisingly close to the early pace), and I'm going to leave it at that.”

Should National Treasure start in the GI Belmont S., Velazquez thinks the mile-and-a-half will not be an issue.

“His gallop-outs are really strong every time,” he said. “He's always given me the feeling that he can do more and, obviously, he put it together in the Preakness. He put in a really good effort and his gallop out was really, really good. So I think the mile-and-a-half shouldn't be a problem. The way he gallops out, he's always giving more and more.”

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by Coolmore,https://lanesend.com/ the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders, 1/st Racing, WinStar Farm, XBTV, Lane's End and https://www.threechimneys.com/ West Point Thoroughbreds, Bill Finley and Randy Moss reviewed the Preakness and the incredible highs and lows Bob Baffert experienced during the day. The breakdown of Havnameltdown (Uncaptured) and the way it was covered by the mainstream media was a major topic of discussion. Finley said that it is time for the sport to take another look at synthetic surfaces, noting that horses are 3 1/2 times more likely to die in a dirt race than they are in a synthetic surface race. With the Belmont next, Moss and Finley took a look at the story of Forte (Violence) re-emerging in the Triple Crown and wondered if he will be ready for his best after what would be a 10-week layoff and some missed training time due to the bruised hoof that led to his being scratched from the Derby.

Click for the video of the latest podcast or the audio-only version.

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TIF Says Triple Crown Pre-Race Inspection Reports Should Be Public

While veterinary scrutiny has increased, communication has not, as U.S. racing has fallen short in the transparency space both this year and many years in the past, the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation (TIF) said on their website on Wednesday.

According to the TIF report, there were more than 33,000 races for Thoroughbreds in the U.S. in 2022, but if you asked the public to name just three of them, chances are they would be the GI Kentucky Derby, the GI Preakness S. and the GI Belmont S.

The report takes the position that the Triple Crown races, despite massive coverage across multiple platforms, still relies on potential hearsay and not regulatory bodies with the specific expertise to offer “formal updates regarding the health and soundness of horses entered in the races which attract the most public attention.”

TIF piece goes on to argue that, “Actual details which media, horseplayers and fans alike can consume, eliminates speculation and repetitive inaccuracies that take hold, particularly across social media, while proving to a wider audience what many inside the sport already know–veterinary scrutiny has never been stronger!”

As with Forte's (Violence) leg injury or Mage's (Good Magic) cut above his eye leading up to this year's Kentucky Derby, the majority of the time the public hears from a veterinarian only after an injury has occurred. Though safety and welfare initiatives are welcomed without question, TIF advocates regulators going further to communicate with the public about the horses and their fitness to compete in the most important U.S. races.

“Communication” will occur regardless–first as whispers amongst some insiders, then tweets and texts that spiral endlessly–all while, as TIF wrote, “the truth is likely sitting in regulatory silence.”

As for international examples, they abound TIF offers. The protocols surrounding the G1 Melbourne Cup in Australia and the pre-race screening administered by the likes of the Hong Kong Jockey Club are models that the U.S. can emulate, which will lead to progress and transparency for the sport.

Click here to access the full report on the TIF website.

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