Belmont Stakes 2017 a possibility for Cloud Computing

Trainer Chad Brown and his crew welcomed Cloud Computing back to Belmont Park Sunday morning, some 15 hours after the colt’s dramatic victory in the 142nd Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico Race Course.

 

Cloud Computing, co-owned by Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence, edged Classic Empire by a head. Brown, 38, won the Preakness with his first starter and earned the first Triple Crown victory of his career.

 

“It has sunk in,” Brown said. “We’re thrilled with the result. The horse looks well and our team here is just so happy with the race yesterday.”

 

Riding the colt for the first time, Javier Castellano sent Cloud Computing after Classic Empire at the top of the stretch, gradually sliced into the three-length lead, caught him near the wire and won by a head before a record crowd of 140,327. He paid $28.80.  

 

“We got a beautiful, beautiful trip in the Preakness and the horse really responded,” Brown said.

 

The Belmont Stakes (G1) on June 10 remains a possibility for Cloud Computing, who did not race as a 2-year-old.

 

“We haven’t ruled it out,” Brown said.  “We’re just going to evaluate the horse this week and probably by next weekend we may have a decision.”

 

Although Cloud Computing had enough qualifying points to run in the May 6 Kentucky Derby (G1), Brown and the owners decided to skip the race with the lightly raced son of Maclean’s Music and focus on the Preakness. Brown said the colt flourished given two more weeks of training after his third-place finish in the Wood Memorial (G2) on April 8.

 

“We were confident in the horse,” Brown said.

 

As he did in the post-race press conference, Brown described the Preakness win as a team effort.

 

“It’s really gratifying, for all the hard work everyone puts in here at the barn and to be able to do it for clients like Seth Klarman and Bill Lawrence, who are so loyal, so supportive and so patient,” Brown said. “To be able to reward them for their confidence in us is probably the most gratifying thing about the whole experience for me personally. They do trust us with a lot of horses, a lot of money invested in our stable and a lot of time spent dealing with good news and bad news. It’s great to be able to give back to them, especially to Seth, who is from Baltimore. Everything aligned perfectly yesterday.”

 

SENIOR INVESTMENT – Fern Circle Stables’ Senior Investment came out of his third-place Preakness finish in good condition, reported trainer Kenny McPeek Sunday morning.

 

“He’s great this morning,” said McPeek, who scheduled a 7:30 Sunday morning van ride to Belmont Park for the son of Discreetly Mine. “Our plan is to run (in the Belmont Stakes).”

GUNNEVERA – Peacock Racing Stables’ Gunnevera exited his fifth-place finish in Saturday’s Preakness in good order.

 

“He came out of it very good,” said trainer Antonio Sano’s son, Alessandro.

 

The Fountain of Youth (G2) winner is scheduled to be vanned to Sano’s Gulfstream Park West stable Sunday evening.

 

“We’ll bring him back to Florida and give him some rest,” Alessandro Sano said. “We’ll look at some of the 3-year-old races later in the summer.”

 

MULTIPLIER – Gary Barber, Wachtel Stable and George J. Kerr’s  Multiplier was vanned back to Keeneland  following his sixth-place finish in the Preakness but trainer Brendan Walsh hinted that the door may be open for a possible return to the Triple Crown wars in the upcoming Belmont Stakes.

 

“I thought he finished up really well,” Walsh said. “He seems fine, but it just looked like he needed more ground. There’s a race for that down the road (Belmont Stakes). We’ll regroup and see what the owners want to do.  I wasn’t disappointed in him.”

 

The son of The Factor broke from the demanding inside post in the field of 10 and was hard-pressed to get off the rail most of the way. Jockey Joel Rosario finally got the Illinois Derby (G3) winner free heading for home and he finished sixth, only about a half-length behind third-place finisher Senior Investment.

 

The Preakness was only the fifth career start for Multiplier and the first time off the board for the colt who was purchased privately after his Illinois Derby victory.

 

CONQUEST MO MONEY – Judge Lanier Racing’s Conquest Mo Money is being considered for the Belmont following his seventh-place finish under Jorge Carreno in the Preakness.

 

Trainer Miguel Hernandez said the New York-bred colt came out of the race well and was to be shipped to the barn of trainer Tres Abbott at the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md. Sunday afternoon. Hernandez, who has two dozen horses at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa, will remain the trainer of Conquest Mo Money.

 

The son of Uncle Mo was expected to show speed and perhaps press the pace, but he got away from the gate very slowly, ninth of 10, from his outside post position and never was a factor in the race.  

 

“I’m a little disappointed,” Hernandez said. “He broke slow and I think he needs to be close, third or fourth at the most. He was way behind and out of the picture. The rider said the horse wasn’t ready for the break. When that happened and he was so far back, I don’t think he tried like he used to.”

 

TERM OF ART – Calumet Farm’s California-based Term of Art, who faded from contention midway in the backstretch to finish 10th in the Preakness, left his corner stall at Pimlico around 6 a.m. to begin a cross-country journey to Southern California. Trainer Doug O’Neill said there were no plans for the son of Tiznow.

 

“I don’t know. I’ll have to discuss it with Calumet,” O’Neill said.

 

Term of Art was running fourth heading toward the midpoint of the Preakness, but he stopped abruptly and tumbled to the back of the pack and remained there. He went off at odds of more than 46-1, longest in the field.