Creator Takes the Belmont Stakes in the Final Stride
Creator won the 148th edition of the Belmont Stakes (G1) in come from behind fashion, thanks to a deft rider by jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. Sent off at odds 16.40-1, the son of Tapit was given a ground saving ride that turned to victory when Ortiz was able to weave his way through considerable traffic, avoiding trouble, to get up to win by a nose over Destin right before the wire.
Creator, as is his fashion, broke slowly from the gate and Ortiz intently took his horse to the rail and stayed there as his stable mate Gettysburg set the early fractions for a mile of the mile and a half race in 24.09, 48.48, 1:13.28, and 1:37.96. Destin ran in second position about one length behind for that first mile. The rest of the field was packed tightly behind the pacesetters.
All the while Creator gradually moved closer to the horses in front. By quarter he went from eleventh to tenth and then to sixth as the field turned for home. There was considerable traffic as the jockeys tried to get position as Ortiz searched for a way to move Creator to a clear path off the rail.
Patience was a virtue for Ortiz when he found that he could not get clear to the outside. With horses bumping around him he again moved Creator to the inside and when the slightest opening appeared he asked Creator to go and they got through to make their final surge to the wire.
Destin had inherited the lead when Gettysburg’s set-up work was complete and fought gamely while trying to hang on to that lead. At the same time Lani, the horse from Japan, was making a final run down the middle of the track. In the end, Creator took the win photo by a nose over Destin, who held on to second place by a length and half over Lani.
Ortiz said after the race about Creator, “He was calm and I just waited for somewhere to go. When he got clear, he started running.”
For trainer Steve Asmussen, who will be inducted into the racing Hall of Fame in August, this is his first Belmont Stakes victory in four tries. His best prior finishes were fourth with Nehro in 2011 and second in 2007 with Curlin. “I was glad to see them put that number up, they came to the wire together,” he said. “Irad gave him a dream trip. The horse ran super.”
The Preakness winner Exaggerator, who was sent off as the 7-5 favorite, did not muster his usual powerful closing move, with the rigors of the Triple Crown seeming to take it’s toll, and faded to finish eleventh.
Exaggerator’s rider Kent Desormeaux said, “The horse that is usually keen to progress was not underneath me. I nursed him to the quarter pole and set him down, put him down for a mad drive and said, 'Show me your stuff,' and there was nothing there. By the time we got to the eighth pole he was stepping on his tongue and I said that's enough. I'm not going to be fifth, I'm not going to be seventh. Let's get him home and probably get him back to where he enjoys a mile and a quarter or not three weeks in a row.”
Coming into the race, Desormeaux felt Exaggerator was ready, “You can blame a million things after that effort but I just know going in he couldn't have been a happier horse. They can be bucking and kicking in the barn but they go a quarter of a mile after what he's been through he says you guys go ahead I'll catch you all again next week. Maybe that's all there is to it."
In victory, Creator and the winning owners from WinStar Farm and celebrity chef Bobby Flay, who had just recently purchased a share of the horse, earned the $800,000 top share of the $1.5 million purse. This was Creator’s second grade one victory and his career stats now stand at 10: 3-4-1 with $1,568,320 in earnings.
For the betting public Creator paid $34.80, 14.60, and $9.40. The $2 exacta with Destin returned $269 and the trifecta down to Lani in third yielded a hefty $2,751.