Belmont Stakes 2017: Multiplier Settles into Belmont Backstretch
Grade 3 Illinois Derby winner Multiplier, set to make his next start in Saturday's 2017 Belmont Stakes, quickly settled into his new surroundings on the Belmont Park backstretch after arriving shortly after 11:30 Tuesday morning.
Richelle Duhon, a foreman and exercise rider for trainer Brendan Walsh, made the entire 6 ½-hour trip from Louisville, Ky. to New York with Multiplier starting with a 5 a.m. departure from Churchill Downs.
"It was a good trip. He was very good," Duhon said. "He's a good traveler. He settled right in and is looking for his food."
Other Kentucky-based Belmont Stakes contenders on the one-hour, 45-minute Tex Sutton flight were probable favorite Classic Empire, J Boys Echo, and Hollywood Handsome.
"He was right next to J Boys Echo and they were hanging out sharing the hay rack. He made a new friend," Duhon said. "He's a character. He's very funny. In the van, all the other horses were standing quiet and he was there shaking his chain. He's something else. He's a clown."
Walsh, scheduled to arrive in New York early Thursday evening, said Multiplier will visit Belmont's main track Wednesday under the watch of his assistant, Tom Molloy, likely around mid-morning.
Multiplier enters the Belmont off a sixth-place finish in the Grade 1 Preakness May 20 at Pimlico. He had won his previous two starts capped by a rallying head victory over favored Hedge Fund in the April 22 Illinois Derby, his stakes debut.
Joel Rosario, winner of the 2014 Belmont aboard Tonalist, retains the mount for the Belmont after riding Multiplier for the first time in the Preakness.
Source: NYRA