The BEL – Grade I

1 1/2 Mile Dirt Stake Purse $1,500.000 Open 3 Year Olds.

Is it me or do the races look the same but the results are different each time? Well one thing that certainly wasn’t different about the BEL was recent history. As I said in my preview Mb had won 3 of the last 4 with horses drawn 6 or better, in fact it has been a long time now since anything has won this race from a wider draw so it should’ve been pretty obvious that Admiration was going to win. Sure enough all the TC form was once again shaken up and this time it was Admiration that won Mb Stables third BEL in a row, an amazing feat. There were some great runs from the wider horses, some puzzling efforts from others but in the slowest BEL for a while no-one can doubt just which stable was on top at the end. Here’s how the money getters did the job.

1st Admiration Mb Stables Velazquez J

Running a very similar positional race to what he did in the Preakness two things were very different for him today. Firstly the pace was a crawl in comparison to the Preakness suggesting the same positional instruction was used but instead of hugging the rail as he did at PIM he ran right round the outside. You would think that would be a disadvantage but today it wasnt as he took the lead in the final furlong and then dug deep to hold on from his stable companion. Missing the KYD and the mud looks a stroke of genius or good luck and even though he has had six starts he still looked much fresher than some of the others. A son of a turfer by the stables great sire Commanding he was bred by Jader Stable and out of a now deceased mare who didnt win a race on the track.

2nd Apples To Oranges Mb Stables Gaffalione

Even though Admiration was a deserved winner i must admit this one may just have deserved it a bit more. Third in the KYD from the dreaded ace draw he was drawn wide and taken back today and with another yard or so may well have won this race. The fact that he is lightly raced, acts on any going and stays every yard of this trip may just see him emerge as the stables best Classic contender.

3rd Scarlet Ninja Joshua Stables Castellano

It must have provided the owner with just a little pleasure to have $1.2K in their pocket thanks to the sale of their KYD winner and then to pick up a race cheque with two horses as Beach Dandy faded away into a midpack finish. This one came here a fresh horse but the wide draw and just fair form kept hi out of most peoples choices. However we now know this horse loves an extreme trip and a look back at how he has been running suggests he may well prove this run to be no fluke in the long run.

4th Pure Authority Joshua Stables Colon L H

With the pace being a crawl (slower than a muddy KYD in the first half mile) it gave those horses that got the wide gate speed push a bit of a chance to stick around a bit longer. Sure enough after stalking the lead he was given his head and was still in it when they hit the stretch. Inevitably he weakened but he ran the race of his career so far to hang on for fourth. I have a feeling the BC Mile may be the race on his radar.

The Rest

Well with a muddling pace all the midpack runners were tripping over each other and the wide draws that took the speed push did pretty well. I thought Beach Dandy was going to explode from a perfect position on a slow pace but he faded away and looks a shadow of the horse that was so dominant leading up to and in the KYD. Of the other big names Fear The Dragon got too far back and Mr Cat Summers took option B from the wide draw which was the wrong one today. The Preakness winner Hollywood Latte now has a grade one win sandwiched between two poor efforts in the TC races after finishing second last here and as usual the form book was turned around by most of the runners with very little consistency through the TC.

Categories: Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES