Da'Tara won the Belmont Stakes Saturday to deny Big Brown's bid to become the first Triple Crown winner in 30 years. Big Brown, who won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness in dominant fashion, didn't show the same effortless-looking power in the 1 1/2-mile Belmont, the race dubbed the "Test of the Champion."
"I had no horse," said Big Brown jockey Kent Desormeaux, who allowed the colt to cruise home last in the eight-horse field. Unbeaten in five starts coming into the Belmont, Big Brown was bidding to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978 and just the 12th overall.
Instead, the 3-year-old became the 11th horse since Affirmed's triumphant '78 season to win the first two jewels, only to fall short in the Belmont. Da'Tara, trained by Nick Zito and ridden by Alan Garcia, broke from the sixth post and led from wire to wire. He won by a convincing four lengths - despite going off at 38-1, the longest shot on the board. Da'Tara had finished 23 1/2 lengths behind Big Brown in the Florida Derby in March, and skipped both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness.
Denis of Cork, trained by David Carroll, was second with Robby Albarado in the irons. Anak Nakal and Ready's Echo finished in a dead heat for third. It was the second time that a Zito-trained horse shattered a Triple Crown bid.
In 2004 he saddled Birdstone, who edged Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Smarty Jones in the Belmont. And it was the second time Desormeaux had a Triple Crown dream come crashing down at the Belmont.
In 1998, he was aboard Real Quiet, who opened a four-length lead in the stretch before losing by a nose to Victory Gallop. Big Brown trainer Rick Dutrow jnr had said with characteristic swagger that a victory for his colt was a "foregone conclusion," despite the fact that the horse was nursing a quarter crack in his left front hoof wall.
The crack had been sutured and patched, and the Big Brown camp insisted injury played no role in the defeat. Big Brown, whose hopes of Triple Crown glory had seemed to receive a boost Saturday when second-favourite Casino Drive was scratched with a bruised hoof, broke from the rail and quickly settled into third behind Da'Tara and Tale of Ekati. But as the field began to come around the final turn and Desormeaux asked his mount for more, he got no response.
"He was keen to go on early. He broke so hard," Desormeaux said. "I got him out early and just cantered down the backside. "A couple of times, he thought it was time to go and jumped into the bridle. But I had no horse, and when I realised something was wrong, I knew he wouldn't be fifth. He's the best horse I've ever been on, so I took care of him."
Track doctor Larry Bramlage said in a post-race television interview that early indications showed the horse was not injured, reassuring US racing fans dismayed by the post-race breakdown of Kentucky Derby runner-up Eight Belles. "He looked fine during the race," Bramlage said. "All I saw was when Desormeaux slowed him down. The veterinarian inspection team did not find anything wrong with him and he was not lame."
Comments
Comments are closed.