Belmont meet ends, racing returns in September

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Ferocious Tiger, with jockey Rafael Hernandez aboard, took the finale as the Belmont Spring/Summer Meet came to a close last Sunday, capturing a 1 1/16th-mile, $41,000 maiden claiming race in 1 minute, 44.66 seconds.

Trained by Wesley Ward, Ferocious Tiger paid $8.60 to win and capped a mandatory Pick 6 payout of $20,564. Lucky Leroy Brown ran second, while Key To The Bridge was third to round out a trifecta that paid $329.
The 10-race card signified the conclusion of Belmont’s 59-day meet, which was highlighted by American Pharoah’s historic Triple Crown victory in the Belmont Stakes on June 6, when the on-track handle for the day was nearly $17 million.

“It was a special meet everyone is going to remember because of the first Triple Crown in 37 years,” said Jenny Kellner, assistant director of communications for the New York Racing Association, who was in the winners’ circle during the running of the Belmont Stakes.

“I was pretty confident when they turned for home — nobody was catching Pharoah,” she recounted. “I was paying as much attention to everyone’s reaction around me than I was the end of the race.”

Javier Castellano captured the jockey title, with 56 wins, marking his third straight Spring/Summer Meet riding crown. Castellano had two more than runner-up Irad Ortiz Jr., and finished in the money on 55 percent of his mounts. His biggest victory of the meet came aboard Honor Code, who stormed home to win the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap on Belmont Stakes Day.

Todd Pletcher finished first among trainers, with 43 wins in 137 starts. Pletcher’s entries totaled $3,595,822 in purses, and he came within one win of tying David Jacobson’s meet record. Jacobson, who finished sixth in the trainer standings, with 16 victories, took the owners title with 13 wins.

The final stakes event of the meet, the second running of The Lynbrook, was last Sunday’s fourth race, and was won by Wonderment, ridden by Castellano. “It was perfect,” he said. “She broke well out of the gate. She’s a smart filly — she put me in a good spot in the race, and I just went with the flow. She was very professional. I’m very blessed to ride these kinds of horses.”

Racing action will return to the Elmont track on Sept. 11, following a six-week stay in upstate Saratoga. The Spa meet begins this Friday and runs through Labor Day, Sept. 7. Belmont’s Fall Meet will runs through Nov. 1.

“We’ll have two Super Saturdays in the fall when we return to Belmont,” Kellner said.