Mo Donegal wins the Belmont, tops a Pletcher exacta

Elmont, N.Y.

Maybe the Grade 2 Wood Memorial at nearby Aqueduct should be a Grade 1 again. In fact, who needs Florida when New York keeps producing classic winners?

After Wood runner-up Early Voting finished first in the Preakness, why wouldn’t Wood winner Mo Donegal, who also won the Remsen (G2) in December at Aqueduct, do the same thing in the Belmont Stakes?

Getting what trainer Todd Pletcher and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. said was the perfect trip, Mo Donegal (5-2) bolted from fourth to first when he turned four wide for home on the way to a three-length victory over his stablemate filly Nest (5-1), who finished second.

“The Remsen and the Wood Memorial have got to get some respect back,” Pletcher said. “We’re coming out of the Wood with the Preakness winner and the Belmont winner. I think it shows you New York racing is really, really good. It’s good to see those races regain some of the stature that they should have.”

Mo Donegal’s winning time for the 1 1/2-mile race was 2:28.28, faster than the 2:30.45 turned in by Pletcher’s 6-year-old gelding Fearless over the same fast track and distance earlier Saturday in the Brooklyn (G2).

“I think that makes Mo Donegal and Nest’s performance even more impressive,” said Pletcher, who won for the fourth time in the Belmont. “They ran that much faster than some really good, graded-stakes experienced, older horses at a mile-and-a-half.”

During the past week Pletcher said he hoped Mo Donegal, a $250,000 colt by Pletcher’s Eclipse Award winner Uncle Mo, would be closer to the lead than he had been in his previous starts.

It was third-place finisher Skippylongstocking (11-1), ridden by yellow-clad Manny Franco, who played the role of canary in Mo Donegal’s coal mine. He wove a pace-chasing path to the first turn that the eventual winner followed.

“I took him like a target, honestly,” said Ortiz, now a two-time Belmont winner. “He was traveling good, so I just stayed there. I got nobody else around me. I could move and go out whenever I wanted. So I just bided my time.”

While Mo Donegal was being patiently held in fourth place, Nest was recovering from a poor start under Irad’s brother José Ortiz.

“We stumbled leaving there, but we recovered well,” José said. “We got a good trip and got beaten by a very nice horse.”

The Equibase chart caller determined that Nest conceded three lengths at the start, the very margin by which she lost.

“Maybe, yeah,” José Ortiz said when asked if the awkward start cost him the race. “I didn’t get beat that far. I could have had a better trip if I didn’t stumble out of there. It is what it is. That’s horse racing.”

At the top of the stretch, Nest had tucked into second just as Mo Donegal was moving out to take charge of the race.

“I tipped him out, and I asked him to run,” Irad Ortiz said. “And he ran very well.”

Once they got to the eighth pole, it was evident that the Pletcher-Ortiz exacta would cash. It also was an exacta for Mike Repole, who bought a 25 percent share of Mo Donegal from Jerry Crawford before a fifth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby.

Part of the deal gave Repole the right to have Mo Donegal race in his silks every fourth race, and this was that race. With Aron Wellman, he already was the primary owner of Nest, so it was impossible to miss the orange and blue and the big letter “R” on the front of the Ortiz brothers.

“I want to thank Jerry for being partners with us,” said Repole, who owns Uncle Mo. “He named this horse Mo (Donegal), so it had to work well for him. It’s so surreal. Todd has always called (Uncle Mo) probably the most talented horse he ever had. You can only be a 3-year-old in May or June one time in your life. Unfortunately he got sick (in 2011), or I think he would have been doing this himself. So for my silks, thank you, Jerry.”

The pace that We the People (7-2) set was much less eye-popping than what Mo Donegal faced in the Derby. With Skippylongstocking always on his tail, he went out with quarter-mile fractions 23.99, 48.49, 1:13.23 and 1:37.74. But the 1 1/2 miles proved to be too much for the colt who won the Peter Pan (G3), which ended three-eighths of a mile and one turn sooner.

“I just think the mile-and-a-half was too long,” We the People trainer Rodolphe Brisset said. “There’s nothing you can do. You have to try, and he went in 48 2/5 and 1:13. It was just too long for him.”

As Skippylongstocking was game in sticking around, he was no match for the Repole-Pletcher-Ortiz pair. According to Trakus, Mo Donegal ran the last half-mile in 50.19 seconds, even though he covered 41 more feet of ground than Nest, who did it in 50.68. Skippylongstocking needed 51.11.

“If Nest doesn’t stumble,” Repole said, “I think we got a photo finish.”

Creative Minister (7-1) finished fifth followed in order by Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike (4-1), Barber Road (8-1) and Golden Glider (14-1).

As a reward for his success with Mo Donegal, including victories in a maiden race, the Remsen (G2) and the Wood, Crawford said he would give Irad Ortiz a stallion season. That is the right to reap the financial benefit of breeding a stallion to a mare during a given year. It is a way for owners to show their appreciation to top riders.

“I love that,” Ortiz said. “That will be my first one.”

Pletcher said the Travers (G1) would be a likely target for Mo Donegal this summer at Saratoga. Repole said the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) and the Alabama (G1) could be on Nest’s radar.

Actually, when asked what would be next after the victory, Pletcher said, “I think a party at Mike’s house tonight.”

Asked if Mo Donegal would be there, Pletcher said, “He might show up. He brings animals to parties all the time.”