The 'other' Casse, Sir Winston, upsets 2019 Belmont Stakes

Trainer Mark Casse, who won the second leg of the Triple Crown with War of Will, also took the third on Saturday when Sir Winston ran to a 10-1 upset of the Belmont Stakes.

In behind horses much of the way, Sir Winston, named by owner Tracy Farmer after Winston Churchill, rallied to pass pace-setting Joevia in deep stretch.

Tacitus also got past Joevia for second as the 9-5 race favorite. Tax was fourth with War of Will off the board.

The final time was 2:28.30 for 1 1/2 miles.

Sir Winston, a son of Awesome Again, prepped locally with a rallying second in Belmont Park's Peter Pan (G3) last month.

"He's a very nice horse," said winning jockey Joel Rosario. "You just have to let him do his thing."

"I could see War of Will was struggling a little bit," Casse added. "He looked like he was maybe a little flat today. I saw Joel cut the corner a little bit. I could see where War of Will was getting wary. I went to riding Sir Winston.

"It's tough to do because you have two horses, and I love War of Will as well."

Casse joins Todd Pletcher, who accomplished it in 2017, as trainers to win separate legs of the Triple Crown with different horses in the same season. Pletcher had Always Dreaming in the Derby and Tapwrit in the Preakness two years ago.

Joevia, pressured to his outside by Tax, clicked through an opening half mile in 48.79 seconds and went the mile in 1:38.27 before yielding.

"A little unlucky," is how Jose Ortiz, who rode Tacitus, described the trip. Ranging up on the outside, Tacitus followed War of Will, who tired, while Sir Winston made his initial kick forward down on the inside.

"Unfortunately War of Will was a little bit flat," Ortiz said.

Sir Winston had two horses beat up the back stretch while saving ground on the rail. The rest started coming back to him into the far turn, during which Rosario continued slipping up the rail.

Off the turn Rosario found room when he shifted out in front of War of Will -- no rider objection there, of course -- and went on to win by a length.

Sir Winston, a $50,000 Keeneland yearling, showed big improvement to be second in the Peter Pan after missing the board in three consecutive Derby preps: the Withers (G3), Tampa Bay Derby (G2) and Blue Grass Stakes (G2). Going back to his 2-year-old season, the colt won his first stakes race over Woodbine's synthetic in the Display.