Belmont Stakes favorite gallops with one day to go

Elmont, NY (Sports Network) – Belmont Stakes favorite Orb galloped again Friday morning at Belmont Park just one day before attempting the 1 1/2-mile “Test of the Champion.”

Trained by Shug McGaughey, Orb galloped 1 1/2 miles on a track that was sealed because of rain, as his preparation for the 145th Belmont Stakes draws to a close. The Kentucky Derby winner will break from post 5 in the 14-horse field with jockey Joel Rosario.

“He’s ready,” said McGaughey about the colt who’s owned by Stuart Janney III and Ogden Mills “Dinny” Phipps’ Phipps Stable.

Preakness Stakes champ and stablemate Will Take Charge were both on the track Friday for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas.

“We’re all in uncharted water,” Lukas said concerning the 1 1/2-mile distance. “You can go over it and over it, but a lot of them just can’t run that far, especially when they’re pressured. A lot of them will maybe get it in the third race on Wednesday, but when we get into this situation with a little more quality, we’re still guessing a little bit.”

Lukas has won the Belmont Stakes four times: Tabasco Cat (1994), Thunder Gulch (1995), Editor’s Note (1996) and Commendable (2000).

Trainer Todd Pletcher put his five Belmont Stakes horses through morning gallops Friday.

Midnight Taboo galloped 1 3/8 miles, Palace Malice and Unlimited Budget galloped 1 1/4 miles, Revolutionary and Overanalyze simply jogged. Overanalyze, Unlimited Budget and Midnight Taboo are all owned by Mike Repole.

Peter Pan Stakes winner Freedom Child, trained by Tom Albertrani, jogged Friday morning.

“We just jogged him one time around,” Albertrani said. “The track wasn’t too bad. It was sealed pretty tight, just hard, so we opted to jog once today. He looked great. He’s on his toes.”

Golden Soul, second in the Run for the Roses, jogged 1 1/2 miles on the main track Friday morning. Trainer Dallas Stewart has had the colt gallop every day since arriving at Belmont Park from Churchill Downs on Tuesday afternoon.

“He gallops so strong all the time,” Stewart said. “He galloped almost two miles every day, and that’s even more taxing than working. And he did serious, old-time gallops. I think through the stretch, he’s going to have a good bit of stamina, because he’s feeling great.”

Trainer Rudy Rodriguez had Vyjack on the track when it opened for training at 5:30 a.m. (ET).

“We got lucky. It was just sprinkling a little bit,” Rodriguez said.

Giant Finish, trained by Tony Dutrow, was also an early arrival at the track.

“We were one of the lucky ones,” said Chip Dutrow, who is assisting his brother. “It went really well for him.”

Frac Daddy, who will start from the rail post, galloped for trainer Ken McPeek. The gray colt returned after his morning routine “full of energy.”

“We’re sending him from the inside,” McPeek said. “I’m telling (jockey) Alan (Garcia), ‘Go.’ We’re not going to give up the one path without a fight. We’re going to try to keep him right in there, and if someone wants to go with us, they can. Because I think that’s the way he needs to run, and if he’s got the class to carry himself, fine, and if he doesn’t have the class, we’ll know.”

Next to Frac Daddy in the gate will be another speedster, Freedom Child.

“It looks like the two horse, if he breaks well, and he wants to drop in, we don’t want him to drop in,” said McPeek. “We want to hold that. I’ll tell Alan, ‘You have to keep him in that gap, and don’t let the two horse drop in front of you. That’s the key to us having any chance.”

Categorized in: Horses