“Be patient,” Pletcher said. “I think you have the best last quarter of any horse in the race.” Sometimes, Mo is less. Mo Donegal cleared the home side and held the full Nest to win the Belmont Stakes, giving Pletcher a 1-2 goal and Triple Crown’s sixth win, including four on that track on the outskirts of New York. “To be honest with you, we were a little confident we were going to race today,” said Donegal Racing CEO and co-owner Jerry Crawford. “When he got home, I wanted to forget about it. I know Todd thought he could do a strong last quarter mile, and he certainly did.” Donegal completed the 1 1/2 mile course in 2 minutes, 28.28 seconds, ahead of Nest and Skippylongstocking. Pletcher, who lives in Long Island, adds another title to Belmond after winning Rags to Riches in 2007, Palace Malice in 2013 and Tapwrit in 2017. Mo Donegal won an open field with eight horses without a clear favorite – We the People, a mud monster, opened at 2-1 in the middle of a rainy forecast, but reached 7-2 at race time as the rain stopped. MO MO MO DONEGAL runs away with the Belmont Stakes presented by @nyrabets! @iradortiz pic.twitter.com/FhPHpSQUVx – Belmont Stakes (@BelmontStakes) June 11, 2022 Mo Donegal entered the gate the favorite in the bet with 5 to 2. We People were ahead for a large part of the race, but Mo Donegal and Ortiz took the responsibility coming out of the final turn. The 3-year-old foal paid $ 7.20, $ 3.80 and $ 3. Nest – which almost became Pletcher’s second girlfriend to win Belmont after Rags to Riches – paid $ 5.30 and $ 4.10, and Skippylongstocking returned $ 5.60 to show up. Rich Strike, a stunning 80-to-1 Kentucky Derby winner, was sixth after owner Rick Dawson and coach Eric Reed kept him out of the Preakness with a look at Belmont. Rich Strike was the first healthy Derby winner to avoid Pimlico since 1985. Reed said the team encouraged rider Sonny Leon to try to push Rich Strike from the outside, but the horse kept trying to get back inside – where he made a delayed load of more than 19 horses to win at Churchill Downs. “I think we just made a tactical mistake,” Reed said. Just like Rich Strike, Mo Donegal was in the back of the Derby team, but the foal did not have enough kicks in the Churchill Downs. He found it on Saturday, winning the 154th run of the $ 1.5 million race. It is the fourth consecutive year that the Triple Crown races have won three different horses, the first for the sport since 1926-29. The race marked the return to Belmont’s own form as the 2020 Stakes were closed to the public due to the pandemic and the 2021 race was limited to 11,238 spectators due to virus restrictions. Capacity was reduced again, this time to 50,000, due to traffic congestion concerns coming from the newly built arena next to the NHL New Yorkers. However, fans huddled in cars on Long Island Rail Road and breathed new life into the 117-year-old track with floral hats, pastel costumes and the undisputed drink and cigar calf. The stands were not as crowded as when the venues accommodated 120,139 fans in 2004. It was no big surprise, given the erratic weather forecast and the lack of a Triple Crown contender. The pitch was also sparse. No horse ran all three legs of the Triple Crown this year, raising concerns that three races in five weeks could be too tight a program to keep horses healthy. The winner of the Preakness Early Voting was sidelined, most likely to prepare for the $ 1.25 million Travers Stakes at the Saratoga Race Course on August 27th. Epicenter, second in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, also failed. At the $ 500,000 Acorn for 3-year-old girlfriends, Matareya won 6 1/4 lengths. The beloved Echo Zulu was scratched in the post on the advice of the track veterinarian. Trained by Brad Cox and rider by Flavien Prat, Matareya ($ 2.60) ran the mile in 1: 35.77, winning for the fifth time in eight career starts. The much-favored Flightline took a step back, overcame an early traffic problem and reached a six-million-dollar victory at the $ 1 million Hill ‘N’ Dale metropolitan mile. The victory kept the 4-year-old Tapit foal undefeated in four career starts. She was the first to not win in double digits. The Flightline ($ 2.90) was also driven by Prat and trained by John Sadler.
