Hit Show finished fourth and was followed by Angel of Empire, National Treasure, Il Miracolo, Red Route One and Tapit Shoes. “He gave us a little bit of a thrill turning for home, but he was just wasn’t. He got shuffled back a little bit and once he got him outside in the clear, he was still making impact at the end, but he just ran out of time getting there.”īaffert said National Treasure never relaxed for jockey John Velazquez. “I knew we were asking a lot coming off the 10-week layoff (with Forte). “I’m super proud of both horses,” Pletcher said. The rest is history.”įorte returned $4.30 and $3.30 and Tapit Trice was $4.10 to show. Javier rode him perfectly and Jena is an amazing trainer. “He’s got the heart of a champion,” Antonucci said.Īrcangelo paid $17.80, $7.20 and $4.,90 and earned $900,000 for Blue Rose Farm, which is owned by Jon Ebbert. Preakness winner National Treasure led a group of seven within striking distance after a half, but as the race progressed Arcangelo stayed on the rail and was running head to head with National Treasure on the far turn that leads to the stretch.īy the time they reached the stretch, Arcangelo moved to the front, opened some daylight and never let any horse get closer than the final margin. 3 post position, was always close to the lead in the nine-horse field. Dianne Carpenter’s Kingpost had the previous best finish, second to Risen Star in 1988.Īrcangelo came into the Belmont off a hard-fought victory in the Peter Pan Stakes.Īrcangelo, who broke from the No. She had sent less than 2,000 horses to the post in her first 13 years.Īntonucci was only the 11th woman to race a horse in the Belmont and the first since Kathy Ritvo sent out Mucho Macho Man to a seventh-place finish in 2011. There have been 213 races involving 1,662 horses.Īntonucci, who started riding show horses as a preschooler and later held a plethora of jobs in racing, became a trainer in 2010, running a modest stable. It was the third horse to incur a fatal injury at the current meet. Despite efforts by veterinarians, the horse was euthanized. In the final race on the card, Excursionniste sustained a catastrophic injury to his left front leg. Those cleared on Friday and the cloud over thoroughbred racing lifted on Saturday, briefly. It also ended a week in which the Belmont Stakes was put in jeopardy by air quality problems caused by wildfires in Canada. The heart-warming victory put a positive note on a Triple Crown series marred by deaths of 12 horses at Churchill Downs in the weeks around the Kentucky Derby and another on Preakness day for a trainer Bob Baffert. I’m really happy for her, you know, she’s a really good woman,” Castellano said of Antonucci. Jockey Javier Castellano, who rode Mage to victory in the Kentucky Derby and picked up the ride on Arcangelo when the colt was not entered in the Belmont, said Arcangelo was great. To have a horse believe in you, and your team, the way this horse does … I wish more people could be like horses.” “You fight for that spot and you feel you have to prove your worth. But they’ve never said it about horse racing,” Antonucci said. Do it the right way.”Īntonucci and Arcangelo did everything right as the 3-year-old son of Arrogate finished the 1 1/2-mile race in 2:29.23 and by 1 1/2 lengths in front of favored Forte, with Tapit Trice third. You put great people around you, you work hard. “When we were walking out, I said there is not a table made for you,” she said. She kissed the horse on the nose when it returned to the area in front of the winner’s circle. Jena Antonucci turned a Triple Crown marred by thoroughbred deaths on the track and threatened by bad air quality from wildfires in Canada into a celebration for racing and women.Īrcangelo took the lead at the top of the stretch and won the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, making the 47-year-old Antonucci the first female trainer to win a Triple Crown race.Īfter the horse crossed the finish line, Antonucci doubled over and rested her arm and head on the back of a chair.
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