Tapwrit rallies to win Belmont Stakes

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Two key scratches plus the absence of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winners took some prominence away from the 149th running of the Belmont Stakes, but there was still plenty of drama in last Saturday’s “Test of the Champion.”

Tapwrit surged past favorite Irish War Cry in the stretch and edged clear under jockey Jose Ortiz to win by two lengths, becoming the fifth Belmont winner in nine years to skip the Preakness after competing in the Derby. Patch, of one-eyed fame, finished a distant third and Gormley was fourth in a strung-out field of 11 weakened by the scratches of projected favorite Classic Empire and Japanese star Epicharis, another leading contender, due to foot injuries.

“We felt like with five weeks in between, and with the way this horse has trained, that he had a legitimate chance,” trainer Todd Pletcher said of Tapwrit, who covered the 1 ½ miles in 2:30.02 and paid $12.60 to win. “Tapwrit was getting a beautiful trip,” Pletcher added. “It was everything we talked about in the paddock before the race. We were hoping he had enough when it came to crunch time. It looked like Irish War Cry still had a little something left, but the last sixteenth, he dug down deep.”

Pletcher became the first trainer since 1996 to win the Kentucky Derby and Belmont in the same year with different horses. He saddled Always Dreaming to victory in the Run for the Roses. Following a disappointing eighth-place finish in the Preakness, Always Dreaming skipped the final leg of the Triple Crown. Preakness winner Cloud Computing did the same.

Tapwrit finished sixth in the Derby after encountering early trouble, but Pletcher felt it was “a sneaky good” race. Irish War Cry, who pressed the early pace at Churchill Downs on May 6 and ran 10th in the Derby, almost went wire-to-wire in the Belmont with jockey Rajiv Maragh in the irons.

“It actually wasn’t our plan to be on the lead,” said Irish War Cry trainer Graham Motion. “We kind of hoped that somebody else would go for it, but he had to go to Plan B and Rajiv did a great job. At the eighth pole I thought we might be home free, but it’s the Belmont. It’s a tough race.”

Irish War Cry was pressured out of the gate by 13-1 shot Meantime, ridden by red-hot Mike Smith with five winners on the card. The 5-2 favorite set moderate fractions of 23.88 seconds for the opening quarter-mile, 48.66 for the half, three quarters in 1:14.01, and a mile in 1:38.95 as Tapwrit sat a ground-saving third along the rail.

As Meantime faded on the final turn, Ortiz guided Tapwrit, a $1.2-million purchase at the 2015 Fasig-Tipton yearling sale, to the outside of Irish War Cry and it was a two-horse race to the finish as the crowd of 57,729 roared.  

“It’s an unbelievable feeling that I can’t explain,” said Ortiz, whose older brother Irad won last year’s Belmont aboard Creator. “The distance, I was sure he could handle it. It was a great training job by Todd. I always liked him and we always had a lot of faith in him. Today he showed up. I’m very happy.”

Completing the order of finish were Senior Investment, Twisted Tom, Lookin At Lee – the only horse to have competed in all three legs of the Triple Crown – Meantime, J Boys Echo, Multiplier, and Hollywood Handsome, who was eased.