Belmont 2018 news: Justify's New York hosts 'ready to roll'

With Justify in training at Churchill Downs in the interim, trainer John Terranova and his wife Tonja are quietly preparing to host Bob Baffert's undefeated stable star when he arrives in New York for the 2018 Belmont Stakes run June 9.

The Scat Daddy colt vies to become the second Triple Crown winner the Terranovas have housed in Barn 1, which served as American Pharoah's home away from home when he ended the 37-year drought in 2015. The trainer and his wife have housed many of Baffert's superstars who have journeyed through the New York Racing Association circuit over the years, including Eclipse Award honorees, eventual Hall of Famers and a Triple Crown winner.

"We're ready to roll," said Tonja Terranova, who served as an assistant to Baffert in California before moving east. "Jimmy [Barnes] said he's doing good, got to Churchill in good shape, so now we just sit and wait. It's not [stressful]. They come in and we all work together. We help them whenever they need it. No one bats an eye."

"It's nice to get to be around those kinds of horses," John Terranova added. "They're so rare. It would be great to do it again."

The Terranovas expect to follow the same basic plan as they did in 2015, stabling the horse on the north end of the barn, although it's not yet determined if Justify will settle into Stall 30, made famous during American Pharoah's run for immortality. 

"It's a quiet corner back there," Tonja said. "You can rope it off and people can't get to him. No one's peering through the windows. More than likely, that's where he's going to go. I don't know which stall. I haven't talked to Jimmy [Barnes] about it yet. Once we talk to him, we'll figure where we're going to put him and stuff. It'll be fun. We can't wait."

Lukas: Belmont better race than the Derby for Bravazo

Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, who won the "Test of the Champion" every year from 1994-1996 as well as in 2000, said he expects this year's Belmont Stakes to be a better race than the Kentucky Derby won by Justify. Calumet Farm's Bravazo, trained by Lukas, was sixth to Justify in the Derby and second by only a half-length in the Preakness.

"Here's why: It's got a smaller field, bigger racetrack and it's got all the major players," he said. "Why would you not call it a better race? It's going to be more fair, more honest, more demanding. It's got all the Hall of Fame trainers. All the quality is there. The racetrack. The three-week break. What's not to like? It's a better race. Twenty head over here, some don't belong, stopping, starting. It [the Belmont] is the best race. Whoever wins that should go to the top of the class, the leaderboard."

Bravazo, who vanned back to Louisville from Baltimore Sunday, walked the shedrow Wednesday morning and will resume training Thursday at the special 7:30 a.m. time restricted to Belmont contenders.

Lukas said Bravazo came out of the race so well that "he was all over the barn" while walking, adding, "I should have taken him" to the track. "I watched him here for about five minutes and said [to the hotwalker] 'be careful.' He's on his game."

With fog enshrouding Pimlico during the Preakness, it was hard for trainers to see where their horses were.

"I thought I was at Los Alamitos there, running 440 yards," Lukas joked, referencing the Quarter Horse background Justify trainer Bob Baffert and he had before they turned to training thoroughbreds. "I flashed back to my old days. I thought, 'Here's Baffert and I at Los Alamitos."

More seriously, Lukas continued, "When he hit the three-eighths pole, I looked at the screen to see what the numbers were on the bottom and saw he was still third. I watched that number because I couldn't see him. Then the numbers went off at the top of the stretch, so I started [looking for him]. I thought he'd be on the outside, and he was. I told [jockey Luis Saez] to be on the outside. So, I started watching outside and I picked him up probably a little earlier than you [media] did.

"He was flying. I kind of flashed, 'Where's the wire?' When you're in front, you say, 'Where's the wire?' I wanted it to be a little farther down the base path."

Lukas said he plans to run Churchill Downs Racing Club's Warrior's Club, winner of the Grade 2 Churchill Downs Stakes on Derby Day, in the Met Mile on the Belmont Stakes card.