What better way to learn about the probable contenders for the 2020 Belmont Stakes than a visual introduction? We’ve put together a slideshow of the horses targeting the Belmont Stakes, and where possible we tried to include profile images and workout images as well as racing photos. The contenders are listed in order of accomplishment.
Tag: Racing
‘A Shot Against The Best Horses’: Sharing Breezes, Set For Trip To Royal Ascot
Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Gainesway Stable's Grade 1 filly Sharing, who first became a stakes winner last fall at Laurel Park, punched her ticket to Royal Ascot with a six-furlong breeze Friday morning, trainer Graham Motion said.
Under exercise rider Lauren Mendenhall, the 3-year-old Sharing was timed in 1:14.60 over the all-weather surface at Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md., working in company with 5-year-old mare Mrs. Sippy, a Grade 2 winner.
“Everything's kind of falling into place, so far. We said we wouldn't do this unless everything kind of fell into place, and she worked super this morning,” Motion said. “I feel very good about everything, knock on wood, so far.”
Bred in Maryland by Sagamore Farm, Sharing won the Selima Stakes last September at Laurel in her third career start, propelling her to an upset victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1). She opened her sophomore season by extending her win streak to four races in the May 23 Tepin Stakes.
Motion said Sharing will van from Fair Hill to Keeneland June 14, then board a morning flight out of Indianapolis June 16 to Newmarket, England and run in the one-mile Coronation Stakes (G1) for 3-year-old fillies June 20.
The Motion-trained Miss Temple City ran fourth in the 2015 Coronation after winning the Hilltop Stakes at Pimlico Race Course. Motion hoped to follow a similar path with Sharing, but sidestepped to the Tepin with Maryland racing on pause until May 30.
“I was going to run her in the Hilltop at Pimlico, so when that didn't happen that was the next best thing that could have happened a week later. It was like a little miracle when it came up, and she was ready to run. We had planned on running her the week before, anyway,” Motion said. “And it also gave us a month to Ascot. Up until that point, we'd really given up on the idea. But, once we had a race and we had an option we kind of got back to thinking about it again, especially after the way she ran.
“Hopefully she didn't take too much out of herself. I always worry, first race off a layoff. I think sometimes they can take a lot of themselves, but she seems to have bounced back,” he added. “I brought her right back to Fair Hill afterward and she's kind of gone along, and I thought she breezed really nicely this morning.”
Miss Temple City, a debut winner at Laurel Park in October 2014, would go on to win three Grade 1 stakes and more than $1.6 million in purse earnings following her trip to England, and would return to Royal Ascot again in 2016 and 2017. Motion feels Sharing will represent herself just as well.
“Miss Temple City ran in this race and ran a very creditable fourth after winning the Hilltop. This filly's credentials at this stage of the game are better than hers were at that stage of her career,” he said. “Obviously, she went on to be a Grade 1 horse but at this stage, Sharing is more accomplished than Miss Temple City was.”
Winning a race at Royal Ascot would mean a great deal to Motion, having grown up in Newmarket before coming to the U.S. and winning his first race as a trainer in America in March 1993 at Laurel Park.
“I hope I take my own personal feelings out of it. Obviously, I'd like to do it but I want to be doing it for the right reasons. We're really not missing a Grade 1 over here by going, so it kind of falls in the schedule,” Motion said. “We're not going for the party, because we can't go. We're going because we want to give the filly a shot against the best horses.
“To me, it's always about the challenge. I think sometimes in racing we spend too much time trying to duck other horses,” he added. “Racing, ultimately, is about the challenge and seeing who's got the fastest horse. I think that's why we're doing it, and it's exciting.”
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Funny Guy Takes Inside Route For Comeback Victory In Commentator
Funny Guy finished strong in his first start off a nine-month layoff, surging alongside the rail under jockey Joel Rosario to overtake Blewitt in the stretch and outkick two additional challengers to his outside, capturing Friday's $125,000 Commentator, a one-turn mile for New York-breds 3-years-old and up at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.
Owned by Gatsas Stables, R.A. Hill Stable and Swick Stable, Funny Guy won two stakes in his 3-year-old campaign, with his last race coming in a sixth-place effort in the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby in September at Remington Park.
Funny Guy was content to sit off Blewitt's early pace, leading the nine-horse field through an opening quarter-mile in 22.67 seconds and the half in 45.81 on the fast main track.
Rosario piloted Funny Guy to a ground-saving trip, gaining position near the rail and made a strong move out of the turn. In the stretch, the John Terranova trainee linked up with Blewitt to his outside and gained the edge as Bankit and 4-5 favorite Mr. Buff, the high weight carrying 127 pounds, also challenged from Blewitt's outside.
Funny Guy, carrying 120 pounds, hit the wire in a final time of 1:34.35, besting runner-up Mr. Buff by 1 ¼ lengths. Funny Guy improved to 4-4-0 in 11 career starts in his impressive 4-year-old bow.
“He's been doing really well and training great,” Terranova said. “We've had him ready for a while now. Of course, we've all been delayed coming back, and the race came up a deep field for New York-breds; that was our only maybe concern. As far as his training goes, he's progressed as a 4-year-old and just gotten stronger and stronger. I was hoping for a big effort and thought we would get it, but it was even sweeter than expected.”
Off at 11-1, Funny Guy returned $24.40 on a $2 win wager. The Big Brown colt earned $68,750 for the win, increasing his career bankroll to $458,395.
“Between the three-eighths and the quarter-pole, I had a problem with the horses in front of me and I had to check him a little bit,” Rosario said. “He was okay with that and was handling everything fine and was able to come up the inside and sustain his run. He kept improving. The further we went, the better he was going.”
Funny Guy has now won at 6 ½ furlongs, one mile, and 1 1/8 miles and has also run second in each of his two turf starts, with each coming in stakes against New York breds.
Mr. Buff, who entered with three consecutive wins and four victories in his last five starts for trainer John Kimmel, edged Bankit by a neck for second.
“He's a pro. He ran his race,” said Junior Alvarado, Mr. Buff's rider. “We thought coming into the race, it might be a little quick for him. He had only four workouts and two were easy and two trying to get him a little tighter before the race. We had that on our minds and I didn't want to chase the lead too early and get tired.
“Coming from a little bit of a layoff, I thought he put a great effort in today,” he added. “He was really digging in for me and he never gave up any ground. I don't think the weight mattered too much. He's a big guy, he can handle it. For me, it was more just needing a little more time.”
Blewitt, Build to Suit, Pat On the Back, Honor Up and My Boy Tate completed the order of finish. Whistling Birds was pulled up on the backstretch and vanned off.
The Commentator is named for the former trainee of Hall of Famer Nick Zito, who won the 2005 and 2008 editions of the Whitney at Saratoga Race Course and compiled three graded stakes wins overall in a career that spanned 2004-09.
Live racing resumes Saturday with a 10-race card highlighted by the Grade 1, $300,000 Ogden Phipps, a “Win and You're In” qualifier for the Breeders' Cup Distaff, in Race 9 at 5:36 p.m. Eastern. First post is 1:15 p.m.
The post Funny Guy Takes Inside Route For Comeback Victory In Commentator appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Five Things To Know About The 100th Middleburg Spring Races
This Saturday in Virginia, the Middleburg Spring Races will be celebrating 100 years of racing. And aside from the 100th anniversary milestone, the National Steeplechase Association (NSA) announced this week that the event is the season’s first jump race after a hiatus because of the pandemic.
