posted June 8, 2009 at 12:02 EST in Triple Crown Articles
Belmont Recap - A Bird Does Bring Home the Belmont
When it was all said and done, a son of Birdstone did win the Belmont Stakes. But it wasn’t the son that everyone expected. It wasn’t Mine That Bird that took home the top prize, but his half-brother, Summer Bird.
How did Summer Bird do it? By peaking at the right time and getting the perfect ride from jockey Ken Desormeaux.
For all of the talk regarding a Calvin Crown, it was Calvin himself who shot that hope of one in the proverbial foot. How? By moving too soon on Mine That Bird.
It’s happened before in Belmont history. Desormeaux himself did it aboard Real Quiet in 1998. Chris Antley did it aboard Charismatic in 1999. Stewart Elliot did it aboard Smarty Jones in 2005.
Elliot and Desormeaux had excuses. Real Quiet was on the front end all by himself and Desormeaux felt safe in pushing the button just a bit earlier in order to get himself further ahead of Victory Gallop. He still only lost that race by a nose.
Elliot had to take on the front runners sooner or he could have been in danger of never catching them. Smarty just couldn’t hold off Birdstone who, like his son Summer Bird, went into the Belmont Stakes ready to make a big jump as a racehorse.
But Borel? Well, Calvin just couldn’t help himself. The fact is that Calvin Borel blew the ride on the Kentucky Derby winner by not making that one, beautiful, elongated move at the last possible second. He simply started running up to the front runner too soon.
The move that Mike Smith made aboard Mine That Bird in the Preakness would have put the horse in the winner’s circle. Mine That Bird simply didn’t have enough of a punch left.
Hey, making the right move on a horse going 1 ½ half miles is not easy to do. It was still a valiant effort by both Borel and Mine That Bird, but it was probably the horses last great moment in the spotlight.
Let’s take a look at where some of the Belmont horses will end up at during the summer and before the Breeders’ Cup and beyond.
Belmont Horses: What Does the Future Look Like?
Dunkirk - - Like the Todd Pletcher trained Flower Alley a few years back, Dunkirk figures to improve big time during the Saratoga meet. He was, without a doubt, the most impressive horse that ran on Saturday. He took the lead and held on to finish second which means he dug down big time once Mine That Bird and Charitable Man came up to him. Dunkirk is the horse to watch this summer as Pletcher knows how to train for New York tracks and the Belmont was only his fifth lifetime race. This guy is going to get bigger, stronger, faster and could be a serious player in the Breeders’ Cup this year.
Summer Bird - - The Belmont winner is lightly raced like Dunkirk and no doubt should improve. The key to understand Summer Bird is to realize that he doesn’t have to sit ten to 12 lengths behind the pace. He can make a move when sitting 5 or 6 lengths. Out of all of the contenders on Saturday, Summer Bird sets up as the one most capable of winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic this fall at Santa Anita as his style should be perfect for the Pro-Ride surface.
Mine That Bird - - He put in a good effort but just ran out of gas once he got to Dunkirk. He didn’t get the best ride imaginable from Calvin Borel and probably would have done better if Borel had waited just a bit longer before pushing the pedal. As far as the summer races are concerned, I’m almost ready to write Mine That Bird off. Because he is a gelding, I don’t see him improving all that much this summer. He definitely won’t grow any bigger as the lack of testosterone will impede his ability to gain muscle mass. By the time the Breeders’ Cup rolls around, Mine That Bird should be running Grade III races with little chance of ever duplicating his brilliant Kentucky Derby victory. He’s hit his peak as a racehorse, in my opinion, and won’t ever get to John Henry status as a gelding, but picking paychecks for Chip Woolley the next three or four years is definitely doable.
Charitable Man - - Experience did Charitable Man in. He had a shot as he was in perfect position turning for home, but he didn’t explode the way that a lot of horseplayers expected he would. He’s a good horse and could become a serious player in the summer, like Dunkirk, but most likely might find himself on the turf soon. He’s bred for it and his trainer, Keiren McLaughlin, could be looking at a lot of dollar signs as Charitable Man would be a perfect turf miler. There’s a lot that his connections can do with him after such a valiant effort in only his fifth lifetime race. The turf should be hard on Breeders’ Cup day and the purse for the turf mile is 2 million bucks.
