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Belmont Notes: Red Route One Has Easy Gallop; Angel Of Empire, Hit Show Work At Churchill

Winchell Thoroughbreds' Kentucky homebred Red Route One has settled into his routine at Belmont Park since arriving on May 19 to prepare for an intended start in the $1.5-million Belmont Stakes (G1) on June 10.

Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, the chestnut son of Gun Runner has gone out for light exercise each morning while under the care of Asmussen's Belmont assistant, Toby Sheets, who said Red Route One had an easy gallop over the main track Saturday.

“He's doing well,” said Sheets. “He went to the main track today and I'm very happy with him. We haven't breezed him yet and he has just been galloping. He seems good over the track and he likes his round pen.”

Red Route One was last seen finishing a closing fourth in the Grade 1 Preakness on May 20 where he made up ground late but could not reel in the runaway pair of Blazing Sevens and the victorious National Treasure after the latter set moderate fractions throughout.

He won the nine-furlong Bath House Row by a head two starts back at Oaklawn Park and has finished on-the-board in three graded events when second in the Grade 2 Rebel and Grade 3 Southwest this year, and third in the Grade 1 Breeders' Futurity as a juvenile.

The regally bred Red Route One is out of the unraced Tapit mare Red House, a full sister to 2014 champion 3-year-old filly Untapable and a half-sister to multiple graded stakes winner and sire Paddy O'Prado. Red Route One is closely related to Grade 2 Wood Memorial third-place finisher Dreamlike, who is also by Gun Runner and out of a full sister to Red House named Time to Tap.

Angel Of Empire, Hit Show Breeze At Churchill Downs

Trainer Brad Cox will go two deep in pursuit of his second conquest in the Belmont Stakes with Kentucky Derby (G1) alumnus Angel of Empire [third] and Hit Show [fifth]. Both horses breezed Saturday at Churchill Downs, visiting the track at 5:30 a.m. (ET).

Albaugh Family Stables' Grade 1 Arkansas Derby winner Angel of Empire went in company with graded stakes winner Warrant and logged five-eighths in :59.80 over the fast main track.

Gary and Mary West's Hit Show, second in the Wood Memorial , completed his five-furlong move in 1:00.20 in company with two-time winning sophomore Salute the Stars.

“Angel of Empire and Hit Show worked really well this morning,” said Cox, who saddled 2021 Belmont winner Essential Quality. “Both horses have exited the Derby in good shape and have been able to get back to regular training. Angel of Empire worked with Warrant. He started a couple lengths back and finished up well around the turn. Hit Show is a more aggressive type of horse and gets a lot out of his training. He worked with Salute the Stars who's a good work horse as well. They had a very solid move.”

Both Angel of Empire and Hit Show will record their final breeze at Churchill Downs next Saturday before shipping to Belmont early the following week.

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Thumbs Up: Forte Pleases Pletcher With Belmont Breeze

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher gave a thumbs up following a Saturday morning breeze from Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's reigning champion 2-year-old male Forte, who worked five furlongs over the Belmont Park main track in preparation for the $1.5-million Belmont Stakes (G1) June 10.

Under sunny skies and temperatures in the 60s, Forte, with Irad Ortiz Jr. up, breezed in company with Ontario-bred maiden Abadin [1:00.69]. NYRA clockers caught Forte through three-eighths in :35 flat before completing five furlongs in 1:00.44 and galloping out six furlongs in 1:13 flat over the fast main track.

The move was Forte's second since being scratched the morning of the Kentucky Derby (G1) on May 6 at Churchill Downs as the morning-line favorite. He breezed a half-mile in 50.31 last Sunday over the Belmont training track.

“I was really, really happy. I thought he was moving great. He got into a good rhythm, finished up great and galloped out nice and well,” Pletcher said. “It seems like he's maintained his fitness level. We thought that last week when he breezed a half that he recovered pretty quickly, and even more so today after a strong breeze and big gallop out. It seems like everything is in good order.”

Pursuant to HISA Rule 2241(a), Forte was placed on a mandatory 14-day veterinary list after being scratched from the Derby due to a bruised right front foot. In order to be successfully removed from the list, Forte had to work in front of a regulatory veterinarian and then produce a blood sample for review following the breeze which generally takes five days to be returned.

Pletcher said Dr. Sarah Hinchliffe, NYRA's Senior Examining Veterinarian, was pleased with the work and subsequent exam.

“It went very well. She examined him before he breezed, watched him on the track during the breeze and after the breeze and then came back to the barn and examined him again,” Pletcher said. “She said she was happy. They pulled blood and she gets results in five days on that and that should take care of everything.”

Pletcher said he is content that Forte is in top shape ahead of the Belmont.

“There's protocols in place and we had to adhere to those and we're happy that everything went smoothly,” Pletcher said. “We felt confident the horse was in good order or we wouldn't have been out there twice in the last six days, but you still want to make sure everything went smoothly and we're happy everything did go well.”

Initially scheduled to work on Friday morning, Pletcher moved Forte's breeze to Saturday to give him an extra day.

“It would have been back in five days, so we felt it would be crowding it a bit,” Pletcher said.

Forte, a son of Violence out of the five-time stakes winning Blame mare Queen Caroline, won the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth and Grade 1 Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park this season following his Eclipse Award-earning season last year. He was bought for $110,000 at the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Pletcher also reported that Grade 2 Louisiana Derby winner Kingsbarns, who finished 14th in the Kentucky Derby, will miss the Belmont Stakes. The son of Uncle Mo missed a scheduled breeze on Friday after demonstrating signs of colic that morning.

“We're going to be knocked off course. He had a bout of colic,” Pletcher said. “He's fine, no surgery needed. They just have to administer some fluids. It's unfortunate timing, but it's not something that we can [control]. We can't get a breeze in the next day or two so we're going to run out of time. We'll make sure he's OK and then come up with a game plan.”

Pletcher said Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's 10-furIong maiden winner Prove Worthy remains possible for the Belmont Stakes. The Curlin chestnut was a third-out maiden winner on May 2 at Churchill Downs, and has remained in training alongside Pletcher's division at the Louisville oval. He breezed a half-mile in :49.60 at Churchill on May 23.

“I'II have to talk to [co-owner] Mike [Repole] and see what he wants to do there. He's just coming off a maiden race, but he did appreciate the mile and a quarter,” Pletcher said. “l think he's an improving horse, but the question is does he have enough seasoning to come into a race like this. I'II talk to the ownership group and come up with a plan.”

Prove Worthy is out of the Grade 1-placed First Samurai mare Endless Chatter, whose dam Orate is a full sister to the late influential sire Pulpit.

Pletcher said Whisper Hill Farm and Gainesway Stable's Tapit Trice was in good order following his Friday morning work in preparation for the Belmont Stakes. The gray son of four-time Belmont Stakes-winning sire Tapit finished seventh in the Kentucky Derby after victories in the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby and Grade 1 Blue Grass.

He added that Forte and Tapit Trice would likely both log their final Belmont Stakes breezes on Saturday, June 3.

Early Look At Belmont Stakes

Probable: Angel of Empire (Brad Cox), Forte (Todd Pletcher), Hit Show (Cox), Il Miracolo (Antonio Sano), National Treasure (Bob Baffert), Raise Cain (Ben Colebrook), Red Route One (Steve Asmussen), Tapit Trice (Pletcher)

Possible: Arabian Lion (Baffert), Arcangelo (Jena Antonucci), Prove Worthy (Pletcher), Reincarnate (Baffert)

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‘Super Breeze, Big Gallop Out’ For Belmont Hopeful Tapit Trice

Whisper Hill Farm and Gainesway Stable's Grade 1 winner Tapit Trice recorded his penultimate piece of preparation for the Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets on June 10, breezing five furlongs over the Belmont Park main track for Hall of Fame conditioner Todd Pletcher.

Under mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the 60s, Tapit Trice worked under exercise rider Fernando Rivera to the outside of stablemate Classic Catch [1:00.87] following the renovation break. He completed the five-furlong move in 1:00.22 over the fast main track before galloping out six furlongs in 1:12.60 and 1:25 flat for seven furlongs according to NYRA clockers.

Last Friday, Tapit Trice worked a half-mile in 49.04 seconds in his first move since finishing seventh in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby on May 6 at Churchill Downs. Tapit Trice captured the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby and Grade 1 Blue Grass and entered as one of the favorites for the “Run for the Roses.”

“Super breeze, big gallop out,” Pletcher said following the work. “He seems to really like the main track here. I'm very, very happy with the way he's been training. He hasn't missed a beat since the Derby. He's settled in well. He's been galloping over the main track. He had a breeze last week and a more serious breeze today. It was a major piece of work today, we'll come back for a maintenance type breeze next week. We always thought the mile and a half would suit him.”

Classic Catch, an allowance winner that finished fourth in the Grade 3 Peter Pan here on May 13, has the Grade 3 Matt Winn at Churchill Downs under consideration.

Tapit Trice is by prolific sire Tapit, who has sired prior Belmont Stakes winners Tonalist [2014], Creator [2016], Tapwrit [2017], and Essential Quality [2021]. His graded stakes-placed dam Danzatrice is by Dunkirk – who Pletcher saddled to a runner-up finish in the 2009 Belmont Stakes.

Tapit Trice's pedigree along with his running style make him an ideal candidate for the Belmont Stakes' demanding 1 1/2-mile distance, according to Pletcher.

“Tapits have had a lot of success in the Belmont. He's out of a Dunkirk mare who I trained and ran second in the Belmont. From a pedigree standpoint, you would think he's capable,” Pletcher said. “He's got that big, long galloping stride. I think the main thing is making sure that he gets into that comfortable rhythm and doesn't give himself too much to do early on. The Belmont is not necessarily a closer's race, but it seems like he's really coming up to it the right way.”

Pletcher also has three other potential Belmont Stakes contestants in reigning Champion 2-Year-Old Forte, Grade 2 Louisiana Derby winner Kingsbarns – who finished 14th in the Kentucky Derby – and 10-furlong maiden winner Prove Worthy.

Forte and Kingsbarns were slated to breeze this morning with the former now scheduled to work Saturday at 8:45 a.m. over the Belmont main track.

Pletcher said he is not sure when Kingsbarns will work back.

“He's got a little bit of a bellyache today, so we weren't able to breeze him,” Pletcher said.

Pletcher said Prove Worthy, who is stabled with his Churchill Downs division, remains possible for the Belmont.

On Friday morning, Pletcher also worked Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's Up to the Mark in preparation for the Grade 1, $750,000 Resorts World Casino Manhattan on June 10. The 4-year-old son of Not This Time registered a 103 Beyer Speed Figure last out when capturing the Grade 1 Old Forester Turf Classic on the Kentucky Derby undercard.

“It was great. Just a maintenance type of breeze on the dirt. He seems like a happy horse,” Pletcher said.

Initially campaigned on dirt, Up to the Mark was triumphant in his first two starts on turf this winter over the Gulfstream Park turf. He was then third in the Grade 1 Maker's Mark Mile in April at Keeneland, three weeks prior to his Old Forester Turf Classic conquest.

“You could tell the first time we ran him at Gulfstream that he loved it,” Pletcher said.

Pletcher breezed Repole Stable, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Michael House's reigning Champion 3-Year-Old Filly Nest, who went a half-mile in 49.25 seconds on the Belmont dirt training track.

The Curlin bay was initially targeting the Grade 1, $500,000 Ogden Phipps on Belmont Stakes Day, but could regroup and target the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis on July 1 at Churchill Downs. She has not raced since finishing fourth in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Distaff in November at Keeneland and has recorded four breezes since.

“She worked well this morning, but we're probably running out of time for the Phipps,” Pletcher said.

Early look at G1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets

Probable: Angel of Empire (Brad Cox), Forte (Todd Pletcher), Hit Show (Cox), Il Miracolo (Antonio Sano), National Treasure (Bob Baffert), Raise Cain (Ben Colebrook), Red Route One (Steve Asmussen), Tapit Trice (Pletcher)

Possible: Arabian Lion (Baffert), Arcangelo (Jena Antonucci), Prove Worthy (Pletcher), Reincarnate (Baffert)

The Belmont Stakes headlines the three-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival that features a total of 16 stakes events from Thursday, June 8 through Saturday, June 10. For additional information on the 2023 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival and details on hospitality offerings, ticket packages and pricing, visit BelmontStakes.com.

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This Side Up: Why The Long Face?

As and when he finally quits riding the kids to sleep, at least John Velazquez doesn't have to worry about a next career. Because what he did in Baltimore last week showed him to have everything it takes to lead a cortege. Not just the restrained tempo, but also the way he reliably maintained all dignity and decorum while Irad Ortiz Jr. came lurching out of the procession in his usual unruly fashion.

True, Velazquez wouldn't last the first week if he were to lead a funeral at the same kind of lick as he did the GI Kentucky Derby field on Reincarnate (Good Magic), quite a contrast to the way he has previously hypnotized his pursuers in that race. But Johnny V. amply redressed that aberration with a masterly ride in the GI Preakness S. to confirm himself, for our community, as apt a companion as might be found for a horse bearing a name like National Treasure (Quality Road).

But we won't dwell on the cortege analogy, which will be far too morbid for some tastes in the prevailing atmosphere. This I must admit to viewing with some ambivalence. Because however troubled our relationship with Main Street, unrelieved “sackcloth and ashes” may yet cause us additionally to fail in the more straightforward priority of retaining our existing audience.

(Click the arrow below to hear this column as a podcast.)

Alongside a wholesome determination to keep improving, I do feel that we should stand up for the many glories of our sport with rather more pride than we seem able to find in our hearts just now. (It's like the old joke. Horse walks into a bar. Barman says, “Why the long face?”) We have so much to celebrate, so many stories to discourage mainstream complicity in the kind of extremist agenda that will tolerate zero risk; that would candidly prefer no horses at all, rather than expose them even to the most conscionable and scrupulously-managed risk. That position is invulnerable to the reminder that Thoroughbreds don't make terribly good house pets, so really, we need to concentrate on the far larger numbers who might share the aspiration of giving these noble creatures not just life but the best life possible.

John Velazquez wins the GI Preakness S. | Horsephotos

As Californian horsemen, veterinarians and administrators will confirm, that can raise the bar to challenging levels. But their collective efforts have produced such spectacular dividends, turning round an existential crisis virtually overnight, that I feel that the wider community has been inadequately grateful. Major investors in the industry have abandoned the Californian circuit to a pretty vicious circle: small fields, which diminish handle, which restricts purses, which reduces fields. Yet still it keeps coming up with champions, developed by some of the most accomplished horsemen of our time-regardless of where you happen to stand on the one who has just consolidated an incredible resumé with yet another Preakness.

Views of Bob Baffert, in fact, are a good example of all this wringing of hands. It sometimes feels as though you're only allowed to say one of two things: either he exemplifies everything that's wrong, or he's a maligned genius. And whichever camp you find yourself in, get ready for the invective.

All genius is flawed, because all genius is human. We certainly saw a human being last Saturday, but only in circumstances that maintained the bitter polemics. So much of our discourse, above all regarding HISA, is infected with venom; much of it is conveyed, at calamitous expense, by lawyers. But who wants to be invited to a civil war, instead of a garden party?

I do understand that parts of our community will only stir from their complacency if adequately alarmed by the costs of inaction. And yes, too much naïve enthusiasm might blind us to real dangers. It's even arguable that the way the geographical heart of the industry is thriving, in Kentucky, may insulate too much opinion against societal fissures that feel a world away.

Certainly, professional horsemen have their share of culpability in the loss of public traction. As I suggested last week, we're either breeding horses that aren't up to the task; or hiring trainers who won't properly explore the genetic attributes we may wish to replicate. In either scenario, a solution is absolutely within our hands.

But one other thing also needs to be understood by horsemen. You can't have it both ways: you can't refuse synthetic tracks, which are demonstrably safer, and also refuse more exacting regulation. If you won't accept the kind of strictures that redeemed dirt racing in California, then you'll just have to make do with synthetics.

And actually, that whole area is yet another that only tends to disclose division and misunderstanding. One of the main reasons for the perceived failure of the initial synthetics experiment was a prescriptive view of bloodlines, as adapted only to one type of surface. So, whatever our grievances with Churchill Downs, especially regarding Arlington, I'm glad to see them putting their shoulder to the Turfway wheel. Having loaded Turfway with starting points, they were rewarded with a trial winner who ran a brilliant second in the Derby. In the process, remember, Two Phil's precisely emulated his sire Hard Spun. Are we any more likely to take heed, this time round?

National Treasure at Pimlico | Jim McCue

While we're on the subject, I'm intrigued that the sire of the Preakness winner has lately surfaced among those extraneous speed influences sampled by Coolmore for their plethora of staying mares by Galileo (Ire). Quality Road's own track career was all about carrying speed on dirt. But his dam was by Strawberry Road (Aus), out of a half-sister to the dam of Bahri (Riverman); and of course, his sire Elusive Quality adapted very well to the European theater. Quality Road has had a couple of Royal Ascot winners, while his daughter Bleecker Street last year emerged as one of the elite grass talents in America. So, it's unsurprising that he should be looking like a promising experiment for Coolmore, not least through his son Cairo (Ire) who runs in a Classic at the Curragh on Saturday.

Actually, National Treasure himself has plenty of chlorophyll in his maternal family, while his first two dams are respectively by sons of El Prado (Ire) and Blushing Groom (Fr). But he's presumably never going to risk grass, when he's not getting anything like enough respect as it is.

The world outside is understandably aghast at our horrible run of breakdowns. But even those turning their gaze inwards just want to tell us what a terrible Preakness it was, and how we're clinging to the wreckage of an antediluvian Triple Crown. It evidently wasn't a “terrible” enough race for the Derby winner to swat aside horses that finished third and fourth in the crop championship at the Breeders' Cup. Sure, that was largely the work of Johnny V.–and emphatically nothing to do with a two-week turnaround-but if these races are so soft, please feel free to go and win one.

So, let's offer due congratulations to this very game animal; to the people who bred and raised him; and to those who found him, and have now brought out his potential. It was a difficult day, for sure, but life is full of ups and downs and horseracing is no different. In fact, that's exactly why its stories are so compelling; and why we must share not just our grief and guilt, but also our joy and pride.

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