Senior Investment ready for Belmont Stakes 2017
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Fern Circle Stables
Senior Investment is ready for the Belmont Stakes according to trainer Ken McPeek. The son of Discreetly Mine finished third off of a strong late rally in the Grade 1 Preakness, giving McPeek, who saddled 2002 Belmont Stakes winner Sarava to a 70-1 victory, confidence in his colt's chances Saturday.
"This horse can get the distance. That's not a problem," McPeek said between training sets. "He can run all day long. He's got to step up his speed figures, but he's still going to need the pace softening some of the better horses, and then he's got to time it right. He's doing fantastic. He's a good horse, gets what he's supposed to do. He's going to run. He'll give us a good race."
Jockey Channing Hill, who will be aboard Senior Investment for the fifth straight time on Saturday, brings familiarity, but will also need patience in the 1 ½-mile classic.
"We had one misfire with him in the Louisiana Derby, Channing and I," said McPeek. "He moved on him too soon. He started knuckling on him at probably the five-eighths, four-and-a-half, four-furlong pole, and this horse does not want that. He's only got one spurt, and if you use it too soon, then you use it too soon. I liken it to a sling shot.
"You've got to wait until you see the whites of their eyes, and wait until you get really close, and then you let it go, but if you let it go too soon, then it falls short, right?" he continued. "He's got to continue to be extremely patient with him, and him [Hill] staying on the horse is a big deal because this isn't a two-run horse. This isn't a horse that you make do something he doesn't want to do. He's a horse you have to sit still on, and let him do most of the work, and when you finally need him, you let him go. If the pace is modest, and he's laying close that's fine with me. If the pace is fast he's going to be back, but needs to ride his horse, and not ride the race. He needs to concentrate on the pace of the horse."
Source: NYRA Communications
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