There are indeed times when horse racing can make far-fetched dreams come true.
Trainer Danny Gargan grew up in the racing industry, the son of a jockey who rode Pvt. Smiles in the 1973 Belmont Stakes (G1) against the immortal Secretariat. He worked for Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito and scrambled to put together a small stable when he started training on a regular basis in 2013 and wondered if he would ever get the chance to experience the electrifying sensation of success at the very top of the sport.
It took 11 years, but on a magical day when the Belmont Stakes was contested at Saratoga Race Course for the first time, Gargan joined the list of classic winners as Dornoch prevailed in a thriller befitting the setting as he held off a late bid by Mindframe to prevail by a half-length in the $2 million final jewel of the Triple Crown for 3-year-olds.
“You never think you’re going to be a kid from the south end of Louisville who wins this kind of race,” Gargan said. “Anybody who can win a Triple Crown race from where (I) grew up has to work their whole life to do it.”
Joining the list of classic winners on a dream-filled June 8 day was the ownership group of West Paces Racing, Randy Hill’s R. A. Hill Stable, Belmar Racing and Breeding, Pine Racing Stables, and Two Eight Racing of former Major League Baseball All-Star and World Series champion Jayson Werth.
“I’ll put it up there with anything I’ve ever done,” Werth said. “Horse racing is the most underrated sport there is. This is as big as it gets. It’s the same emotions you feel when you play a playoff game, when you win a World Series game and arguably when you win a World Series. We got to get more retired athletes in this game. Danny, what’s your phone number?”
For Hill, who has owned about 300 horses since he entered the game 25 years ago, the victory fulfilled a long-time ambition to be part of a classic victory.
“This is a win for the little guys. We know all the big guys who have the money, the 100, 200, 300 horses. Danny doesn’t have that. I don’t have that. Jayson certainly doesn’t have that. He has one (colt),” Hill said. “This is one for us. One for the little boys.”
It was also an unforgettable day for Dornoch’s breeder, Grandview Equine, and their former mare, Puca . Not only is Puca the dam of a Belmont Stakes winner, but last year Dornoch’s older full brother by Good Magic , Mage , captured the Kentucky Derby (G1), making the daughter of Big Brown the ninth mare to produce a pair of American classic winners.
Finally, there was the New York Racing Association, whose hopes that shifting the Belmont to the Spa while Belmont Park is under construction would be a smashing success were realized. Saratoga was jammed with enthusiastic fans Saturday as attendance was a capped 50,000 and the all-sources handle checked in $125,748,941, an increase of more than 6.3% over the previous non-Triple Crown record of $118.2 million last year.
“You’re at Saratoga. You’re at the Belmont Stakes. It’s electrifying,” Hill said. “What a great idea by NYRA to bring the race up here. There’s no place like Saratoga. No owner wants to win at a place more than Saratoga.”
In winning, Dornoch erased the sting of his last two races that led to his 17-1 odds ($37.40) in the 156th Belmont Stakes.
After winning the Remsen Stakes (G2) last year by a nose over Sierra Leone , the 8-5 favorite in the Belmont who finished third, he was considered a top Triple Crown prospect. He started his 3-year-old campaign with a win in the Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2). But then a decision to rate him in the Blue Grass Stakes (G1) backfired and he finished fourth.
Then in the Kentucky Derby, he drew the rail and ran into early trouble, never recovering and finishing 10th.
Given five weeks off after the Run for the Roses by Gargan, Dornoch returned to top form at a highly opportune time.
“This horse got no respect,” Hill said. “I said, ‘Let’s run our race today. Let’s get the lead and if anyone can beat us, let them come get us.
“When he won the Remsen, I knew we would win a big one like this. I never lost faith in him.”
Contested at a 1 1/4 miles at the Spa as opposed to 1 1/2 miles at Belmont Park, the Belmont saw Preakness Stakes (G1) winner Seize the Grey grab the early lead in a bid to author an encore of his front-running win at Pimlico Race Course.
Trained by 88-year-old D. Wayne Lukas, the son of Arrogate led for the first six furlongs through quick fractions of :22.99, :47.25, and 1:10.67.
Dornoch and jockey Luis Saez had been second throughout and then surged to the lead leaving the quarter pole. He spurted clear turning for home as Seize the Grey dropped back to finish seventh in the field of 10.
From the back, the challenges came from Mindframe, the inexperienced X factor in the race, and Sierra Leone, who was second by a slim nose in the Kentucky Derby.
Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable’s Mindframe, making just his third career start and trying to make the huge jump from an allowance win to the final jewel in the Triple Crown, tracked in third most of the way after breaking from the outside.
Sierra Leone stumbled at the start and was last after a mile. He was forced to rally nine wide, losing considerable ground, but was cutting into the lead.
Watching from the owners’ boxes, Hill’s belief in his colt never wavered as the margin became slimmer.
“When he turned for home, no one was running him down,” he said. “I would have bet a million dollars on him. He would not let them run him down. He has a heart as big as Secretariat.”
Mindframe and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. grabbed a slim lead at the eighth pole, but then the Maryland-bred son of Constitution drifted out and lost his momentum at the worst possible time. Dornoch and Saez battled back and edged clear to cross the wire in 2:01.64 and cap a sixth straight year in which three different horses won the three legs of the Triple Crown.
“I got really excited. It’s probably on video,” Gargan said about his reaction to his first classic and grade 1 victory. “It’s really funny. I might have said a few things that need to be bleeped.”
Todd Pletcher, who trains Mindframe as well as Antiquarian (fifth) and Protective (sixth), said the runner-up’s inexperience caught up with him in the stretch.
“I thought he ran super. He just ran a little green in the stretch. Irad said he drifted out a bit and lost focus for a moment. I think the inexperience cost him,” Pletcher said. “It was just his third start. First time this distance. All the things we were worried about. If he had run a straight course in the lane it might have made the difference.”
For owner Mike Repole, there were no regrets about running Mindframe in the Belmont.
“He ran incredible,” Repole said. “A lot of people thought we were crazy to attempt this. For a third start, I thought it was pretty special. A little wide, a little green, very special.”
Chad Brown, who trains Sierra Leone for Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg, Rocket Ship Racing, and Peter Brant, said the rough start put his 3-year-old at a big disadvantage.
“He got slammed at the start and he got far back,” Brown said about the son of Gun Runner . “At the quarter pole, it looked like he wasn’t going anywhere, then he grabbed the bit and came on. It was a hard track to close ground on.”
Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan didn’t fire and finished eighth.
“It looked a little deep inside and the speed didn’t back up,” trainer Ken McPeek said.
Bought at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale by Oracle Bloodstock for $325,000 from the Runnymede Farm consignment, Dornoch has won four of eight starts. The son of third-crop sire Good Magic, who stands for $125,000 at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms in Paris, Ky., pushed his earnings to $1,752,275 and spawned a field of dreams Saturday.
“Let me keep dreaming,” Hill said.
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