The Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winners showed up for the first Belmont Stakes ever held at Saratoga Race Course on Saturday. But a longshot stole the show.
The hordes are used to packing the clubhouse and picnic area during the 40-day racing meet at the Spa that begins in July. But with Belmont Park undergoing renovations, the third leg of the Triple Crown is being run upstate for two years — and a crowd capped at 50,000 was eager to take in the history.
At a mile and a quarter instead of the usual mile-and-a-half Test of the Champion, the Belmont attracted the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winners, Mystik Dan and Seize the Grey. But in the end, 17-to-1 Dornoch got to the wire first in the field of 10, winning by less than a length.
Trainer Danny Gargan notched his first Belmont Stakes victory.
“It’s just a blessing that they had it here, the crowd was wonderful today, there was so many people,” he said. “It was a beautiful day. It’s a great day for racing.”
Dornoch’s owners include retired Major League Baseball star Jayson Werth, who celebrated in the winner’s circle.
“Horse racing is the most underrated sport in the world.” -Jayson Werth pic.twitter.com/5jn9taQw9b
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“When you’re sitting in the dugout and you’re in a tight game, a big game and you got guys on base, and someone hits a double in the gap, and you’re cheering on your guy who’s trying to score from first, that’s kind of what it’s like,” he said. “But it’s like 2 minutes, not 10 seconds or 4 seconds, or whatever. So you just lose your mind, really. It’s a crazy sport.”
Favorite Sierra Leone finished third. The four-day Belmont Stakes festival concludes Sunday. The regular Saratoga meet under the usual ground rules — outside alcohol and re-entry were not permitted for the Belmont — begins July 11.
NYRA said all-sources handle was more than $125 million, a record for a non-Triple Crown year.
