Billed as a title decided between the winners of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, the Belmont Stakes lived up to its hype with an absorbing contest on Saturday [June 7] as Sovereignty and Journalism joined battle at Saratoga.
Our two protagonists looked set for a dramatic head-to-head at the head of the stretch – but in the event this was to be a one-sided rubber match as Sovereignty confirmed his Kentucky Derby superiority over his rival, doubling his winning margin to three lengths.
As a result, Sovereignty also entered the Top Ten according to Thoroughbred Racing Commentary’s exclusive Global Rankings, where he is now world-leading three-year-old at #7 (from #29, +167pt). A Beyer Speed Figure of 109 is also the highest of the year among the US Classic generation.
Journalism (#11 from #12, -4pt) sits four places lower down the pecking order; this is rapidly becoming a famous rivalry that could run and run.
“I feel we beat a good field of horses,” said trainer Bill Mott (#13 from #17, +50pt). “Journalism is a really good horse. I’ve watched him here this last week and I’ve looked at him – he’s in good form, he looks great, his hair is good and his weight is good. I think he was ready to run today and he ran a good race, you know. Sovereignty was good enough to run him down and get the job done.”
Indeed he was. On a main track upgraded to ‘good’ – ‘sloppy’ dominated the weekend, and major turf races were moved off the grass or postponed for 24 hours – Godolphin’s son of leading US sire Into Mischief (stays at #2, +59pt) was clearly the best in a decisive effort under Junior Alvarado (#21 from #25, +18pt).
However, such a dominant display could serve only to raise questions about what might have been had Sovereignty’s connections not decided to bypass the Preakness Stakes – has America been denied a likely Triple Crown winner?
Godolphin bloodstock director Michael Banahan wasn’t minded to dwell on such matters. “I think if you leave the races out of it, it’s what was the right thing to do for the horse?” he said. “That was what we talked about – what was the right thing for the horse to do going forward.
“He ran a hard race in the Kentucky Derby,” Banahan added. “He only just got his season started in the Fountain of Youth and we had four weeks until the Florida Derby – ran another big race in there and we saw how well he did in the five weeks from the Florida Derby to the Kentucky Derby and we felt another five weeks between the Kentucky Derby to the Belmont was the right way to go for the horse.”
Either way, the Travers Stakes is next on the agenda, with the Jim Dandy mooted as a prep race. Sovereignty is 4-1 favourite for the Breeders’ Cup Classic with European bookmakers.
Elsewhere on a stakes-laden Belmont Stakes card, Raging Torrent (#17 from #50, +127pt) puts some better-fancied opponents in their place to claim an all-the-way victory on a muddy (sealed) track in the Metropolitan Handicap.
The four-year-old was completing a hat-trick under Frankie Dettori, having landed his first G1 success over Christmas in the Malibu at Santa Anita before a lucrative G2 win in the Godolphin Mile on the Dubai World Cup undercard.
With the likes of Fierceness and White Abarrio (both conceded a couple of pounds) among those behind at Saratoga, however, a 2½-length victory in the $1m contest better known as the Met Mile represented another step up. He has now won six of his last sev
en – and that defeat came over an inadequate distance in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
“[It’s] something that I never dreamt of just because it seems so far-fetched, but a horse like Raging Torrent is kind of a once-in-a-lifetime kind of horse,” said trainer Doug O’Neill.
“He’s got speed. He’s got stamina. He’s got class. He has no problem shipping and it’s just a wonderful feeling.”
O’Neill nominated the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile as Raging Torrent’s target at season’s end.
Among other notable performances across the Belmont Stakes Festival – held at Saratoga, by the way, as its traditional home undergoes a $455 million facelift – was another G1 success for America’s top turf filly She Feels Pretty (#21 from #23, +19pt) in the New York Stakes.
Ways And Means (#74 from #206, +166pt) posted the biggest Beyer number of the year with a 111 for her 7¾-length romp over seven furlongs in the G2 Bed O’Roses on Friday’s card.
Epsom: Ballydoyle omnipotent
On the other side of the Atlantic, the two-day Betfred Derby Festival at Epsom overwhelmingly underlined Aidan O’Brien’s status as the world’s #1 trainer – and it certainly didn’t hurt Ryan Moore’s position as top jockey.
O’Brien (stays at #1, +57pt) trained all three G1 winners at Epsom where miserably grey weather affected crowd figures and ensured stamina was a necessity as the ground rode on the softer side of good.
Needless to say, Ballydoyle was well covered for this eventuality, which played into the hands of the more stoutly-bred members of their ultra-strong team. A G1 double duly ensued on Friday’s card, when last year’s St Leger winner Jan Brueghel (#47 from #166, +205pt) drew the sting from much-vaunted Calandagan (#32 from #44, +33pt) to claim the Coronation Cup.
The winner, a proper middle-distance son of the legendary Galileo, raced prominently as stablemate Continuous set a strong pace before striking for home a couple of furlongs out.
Odds-on favourite Calandagan looked a major threat before being outstayed as Jan Brueghel re-rallied. “He stays this trip very well and he’s an uncomplicated horse,” commented Moore (stays at #1, +30pt). “The ground suited him, being on the slower side of good, and he stayed on really well.”
While such conditions may not have seen the runner-up to best effect, it remains a fact that he has now finished second four times in a row (all in G1 company) and hasn’t won since his breakout effort last year at Royal Ascot. He has questions to answer, though on the other hand, he was the only horse who managed to land any sort of blow from off the pace in any of the Epsom G1s.
The Betfred Oaks was a similar story, as O’Brien-trained Whirl made the running before just losing out to stablemate Minnie Hauk (#115 from #552, +245pt) in a sustained duel. “What you love about her is that she's a great traveller,” said O’Brien. “She has a lot of class.”
The 1,000 Guineas winner Desert Flower, unsuited by the rain-softened ground, was never able to land a blow before finishing third.
Trainer Charlie Appleby scratched 2,000 Guineas winner Ruling Court for the Derby 24 hours later owing to ground conditions – and he was probably breathing a sigh of relief given how the senior Classic was to pan out as it was more of the same from the O’Brien team, albeit with a different winning jockey this time as Ballydoyle stalwart Wayne Lordan (#139 from #184, +28pt) made every post a winning one on front-running Lambourn (#62 from #431, +306pt).
Although there had been no further rain (ground officially described as ‘good’), stamina was seemingly to the fore once again and prominent racwes dominated affairs.
Though the Chester Vase winner had been largely ignored in the pre-race build-up, punters were wise to what was going on at Epsom and Lambourn was sent off a 13-2 chance – a shorter price than his non-staying disappointment of a stable companion The Lion In Winter, who weakened in the straight and was only 14th of the 18 runners.
With Moore in the saddle, O’Brien-trained Delacroix was sent off favourite but he became the latest son of Dubawi to fail at Epsom, again failing to get involved from off the pace after being shuffled back early doors.
But even if those two high-profile colts fluffed their lines, there is usually another one to save the day – and this time it was Lambourn, who took the race by the scruff of the neck under Lordan (who had ridden Oaks runner-up Whirl in similar fashion).
The son of fellow Epsom winner Australia scored by an emphatic 3½ lengths over 50-1 longshot Lazy Griff. “Australia is a great Derby winner, very genuine, and that's what Lambourn is – uncomplicated, genuine and committed,” said O’Brien, as he extended his Derby record with a remarkable 11th winner.
“He always has been,” the trainer went on. “His runs this year have been very good – he was second to Delacroix, and then was very impressive in Chester. Chester again – you have to be on your game and you have to stay, and that's the way he was.
As to future targets, O’Brien said: “He was always going to be an Irish Derby horse, a Leger horse, and Wayne said he definitely would stay further. He saves plenty for himself and he gives himself a chance to get any trip.”
On Sunday in France, King George winner Goliath (#18 from #30, +63pt) was businesslike in a confidence-boosting G3 win in La Coupe, while Japanese star Jantar Mantar (returns at #29) returned from a six-month layoff to win the Yasuda Kinen at Tokyo racecourse. The son of Belmont Stakes winner Palace Malice has now won G1 events aged two, three and four.
Trainer Chris Waller (stays at #6, +7pt) extended his own record for most G1 wins in an Australian season when Joliestar (#41 from #55, +52pt) scored a last-gasp verdict the Kingsford Smith Cup at Eagle Farm in Brisbane.
Waller has now won 19 G1 events this season – one more than his previous record of 18 set in 2018-19, when seven of his top-level triumphs were delivered by the legendary Winx.
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• Unlike traditional methods of racehorse rankings, TRC Global Rankings are a measure of an individual’s level of achievement over a rolling three-year period, providing a principled hierarchy of the leading horses, jockeys, trainers, owners and sires using statistical learning techniques. Racehorse rankings can be compared to similar exercises in other sports, like the golf’s world rankings or the ATP rankings in tennis.
They are formulated from the last three years of races we consider Group or Graded class all over the world and update automatically each week according to the quality of a horse’s performances and their recency, taking into account how races work out.