Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas, Gary West Column: Rags to Riches' Win a Classic Way to Finish Tripl

Jun 10, 07:34 AM

Current Headlines: By Gary West, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas

Jun. 10--That was a double dose of greatness. Both horses emptied themselves, poured out all their energy and ability for the length of the Belmont Park stretch, leaving behind all the questions and all the doubts, as well as all their rivals, neither horse willing to yield, but both emphatically surging with power and emphatic self-definition until Rags to Riches put her head in front at the wire.

Now, that was a classic.

Saturday's Belmont Stakes was, yes, a fitting conclusion to the Triple Crown. Rags to Riches became the third filly, the first since 1905, to win the race, and Curlin, the Preakness winner, again showed his determination and rare talent in finishing second.

Amazingly, after 1 1/4 miles, the Kentucky Derby distance, they ran the final quarter-mile of the Belmont in 23.83 seconds.

From the top of the stretch to the wire, nobody else mattered. Tiago finished third, 5 1/2 lengths back. And Hard Spun was another 5 1/2 lengths back in fourth.

"If nothing else, it was great for racing," winning trainer Todd Pletcher said. "Obviously, the end result was great for the filly."

Frankly, I fully expected the Belmont Stakes to produce greatness.

But I expected Curlin to romp, to put on a show that would drop jaws and leave the crowd at Belmont Park gasping. I expected him to emerge as a legitimate candidate for Horse of the Year.

Instead, two candidates for horse racing's highest honor emerged from Saturday's race. Curlin proved he's the best 3-year-old colt around, but Rags to Riches proved she's just as good and sometimes, as on this day, a little better.

"I thought he ran extremely well," Curlin's trainer, Steve Asmussen, said about the big colt who has won four of his six starts. "They came into the stretch pretty much heads-up. He fought back very well. But my hat is off to Rags to Riches."

When the connections of Street Sense, the Kentucky Derby winner, decided to take the wimpish path and not run in the Belmont so they might wait instead for a fall campaign, the Belmont lost some of its appeal. And when the announcement immediately followed that Street Sense had been sold to Darley Stud, you had to wonder, if you're a racing fan, what had gone awry.

But Saturday's Belmont Stakes transcended it all. Entering the filly against the "boys" was a bold move. And her victory, her fifth in six starts, proved that the sport still rewards boldness.

It also rewards perseverance. Third in the Kentucky Derby, Curlin ran in all three races. And, of course, he also won the Rebel Stakes and the Arkansas Derby.

"Curlin is definitely a throwback," Asmussen said. "The races he's run since March, with the pressure he's been under, I can't say enough about him."

Yes, it was a classic.

And whenever two horses such as those step onto the track, they remind us all why horses race. They don't race so that they can enrich or empower their owners and breeders, and they don't race so they might go on to breeding careers; the great ones race to win.

Lone Star

This may not count as much of a consolation prize, but it's better than dinner for two at Somethingorotherburger: Shortly after Steve Asmussen watched Curlin lose the Belmont Stakes by a head in New York, the trainer won the $95,130 colts' division of the Texas Thoroughbred Association Sales Futurity at Lone Star Park with Namesake.

One race earlier Saturday, Maileys Cat won the $93,530 fillies' division.

Running the five furlongs in 57.93 seconds, Namesake won by nearly four lengths over Kinetic Motion, the 6-5 favorite who ducked out at the start, with Stormy Date a length back in third. Jockey Jamie Theriot came here from Kentucky to ride the winner. A claim of foul involving a bumping incident down the backstretch was not disallowed.

With Ramsey Zimmerman riding, Maileys Cat stalked the pace, raced three-wide and got up in the final yards to win by a half-length, completing the five furlongs in :58.35.

Valid Lilly ran second, with Shedoesrock a length back in third. Miss Missile, the even-money favorite, finished fourth after a rough trip.

gwest@star-telegram.com Gary West, 817- 390-7760

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