Page 20 - ARUBA TODAY

A20 SPORTS
Monday 10 June 2019

Sir Winston

“I could see where War of an energy-saving trip. Sir Sir Winston paid $22.40,
Will was struggling a little Winston was eighth for the $8.80 and $6.10. Tacitus
bit,” Casse said. “He looked first half-mile and then start- returned $3.90 and $3.20
like maybe he was a little ed to rally on the final turn. as the 9-5 favorite. Joevia
flat today.” Up front, 21-1 long shot hung on for third, paying
The Belmont capped an Joevia continued to set $8.70.
entertaining Triple Crown the pace with Tax closely After Tax, Master Fencer
highlighted by the disquali- tracking. In the stretch, was fifth followed by Spi-
fication of Maximum Secu- Rosario angled Sir Win- noff, Everfast, Intrepid
rity in the Kentucky Derby. ston — named for Winston Heart, War of Will and Bour-
It sparked interest in thor- Churchill — off the rail and bon War. The winning time
oughbred racing despite slightly bothered stable- was 2:28.30 on the fast
Jockey Joel Rosario, atop Sir Winston (7), right, reacts as after no possibility of the third mate War of Will. track under sunny skies.
crossing the finish line ahead of Tacitus (10), with jockey Jose Triple Crown winner in five This time, there was no in- The win was the third in 10
Ortiz up, to win the 151st running of the Belmont Stakes horse years, coming on the heels quiry or objection. Sir Win- starts for the slow-develop-
race, Saturday, June 8, 2019, in Elmont, N.Y. of Justify last year and ston surged to the lead ing Sir Winston.
Associated Press
American Pharoah in 2015. with an eighth of a mile to Casse always believed
Continued from Page 18 day in front of a crowd of It was all positive. There go and held off a late run in the horse despite early
56,217, earning $800,000 for were no tragedies on the from Tacitus, who had an struggles.
Sir Winston, who was mak- owner Tracy Farmer. Long track. No horses died. extremely wide trip under “We’re very proud of him,”
ing his Triple Crown debut, shot Joevia finished third The Belmont was a jockey’s jockey Jose Ortiz. the 58-year-old trainer said.
finished second in the Peter and Tax was fourth. The race and Rosario was the The second-place finish “He’s kind of what our op-
Pan Stakes, the traditional Triple Crown grind caught right rider on a horse full of denied trainer Bill Mott two- eration represents. We de-
prep for the Belmont. up to Preakness winner War run. thirds of the Triple Crown. velop horses. The first two
Rosario rode him for the first of Will, who ran in all three Breaking from the No. 7 His Country House was times he ran, he got beat
time in that race, and the races. He finished ninth in post, Rosario guided the awarded first place in the 10 or 20 lengths. I can re-
two put on a show Satur- the 10-horse field. chestnut colt to the rail for Kentucky Derby. member having a con-
versation with Mr. Farmer
up at Saratoga and I said
‘Don’t give up on him.’”
The feeling paid off — big
time.
This unpredictable Triple
Crown season started with
a wild result in the Ken-
tucky Derby. Maximum
Security crossed the finish
line first and become the
first apparent winner to be
disqualified, taken down
for interfering with War of
Will in the stretch. Country
House was elevated to first,
giving Mott his first Derby
win and becoming the
second longest shot (65-1)
to win the Derby.
War of Will came back
two weeks later to win
the Preakness, but his im-
pressive performance was
overshadowed when a
rival threw his jockey and
ran around the track as the
race continued.
There were three major
races on the Belmont un-
dercard.
Mitole extended his win-
ning streak to seven with
a gutsy victory in the $1.2
million Metropolitan Handi-
cap. Pressing the paceset-
ting Coal Front every step,
Mitole put away that rival
in midstretch and held off
the late challenge by 8/5
favorite McKinzie to pre-
vail by three quarters of a
length. Thunder Snow, the
richest active thorough-
bred with over $16 million
in earnings, was third.q