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Palace Malice captures the Belmont Stakes
With no Triple Crown on the line, Palace Malice went on to win the 145th running of the Belmont Stakes Saturday at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.
Palace Malice, with jockey Mike Smith in the irons
Palace Malice, ridden by Mike Smith, defeated the other 13 horses in the field for the mile-and-a-half third leg of the Triple Crown, the longest of the three races. The victory gave Todd Pletcher, who had a record five horses entered, his second Belmont victory. Oxbow the Preakness winner, and Orb, the Kentucky Derby winner, finished second and third respectively.
Palace Malice was the seventh horse to run in the Derby, then skip the Preakness, and win the Belmont Stakes.
Frac Daddy set the pace early with a fast: 23 seconds for the first quarter mile, but the final quarter was very slow.
Heavy rains on Friday turned the track into a soggy mess, but by race time the track had dried out and was considered fast for the race.
Most of the pre-race talk focused on the rubber-match between Kentucky Derby winner Orb and Preakness winner Oxbow, along with the record five horses sent out by trainer Todd Pletcher, including the filly Unlimited Budget.
But the Belmont has proven a tough deal to seal for Derby and Preakness winners in recent years. For instance, Orb, who is ridden by Joel Rosario, would be first Derby winner since 1995 to win the Triple Crown closer.
Adding betting value is the nearly-capacity field, with the 14 horses the most since the same number ran in 1996. Of those, a whopping 10 raced in the Derby, including runner-up Golden Soul and third-place Revolutionary, both of whom skipped the Preakness.
The field included substantial speed with front-running Peter Pan winner Freedom Child, Oxbow and Derby pacesetter Palace Malice, along with trainer Kenny McPeek vowing to send longshot Frac Daddy to the lead from his No. 1 post. But there also appeared to be a lot of speed in the Preakness, and it didn’t materialize.
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