Belmont Notes - May 14

- Maybe if I wasn’t off at Mother’s Day festivities, I may have had Dave ($12.00) in the NY-bred Kingston at Belmont. I mentioned the other day how sharp Barclay Tagg’s horses have been since he returned from Florida, and Dave (Ends Well) was his 5th winner out of 13 starters (plus six seconds and a third) in New York since then. You may recall that this five-year old gelding won two state-bred races in five days at Saratoga last summer, including the West Point Handicap for John Hertler. He’d been out six months but now has a close second and a stakes win in two starts for his new trainer.

In Saturday's feature, the G3 Bold Ruler, Tiger (Storm Boot) showed that his flashy win against second-level allowance horses was no fluke – and showed why the Beyer speed figures are as popular as they are. He earned a 111 fig that day, which, in theory, made him a faster horse than the G1 winner Bishop Court Hill. And though Pletcher’s Carter Handicap winner was the 9-5 morning line favorite, the bettors went for the fig, and made Tiger the 3-2 choice. Delaware shipper Pisgah also earned a gaudy Beyer in his last, but seemed a bit dead on the board at 7-2.

The lightly-raced five year old gelding is out of a stakes-winning mare by Timeless Native; he’s a half to graded stakes winner Roxelana. Tiger is the fifth stakes winner of the year for Storm Boot, a Storm Cat stallion son standing for $15,000 in Kentucky. Last Sunday, his three-year old filly Gumboots took the Fury Stakes at Woodbine and became one of the favorites for the Woodbine Oaks on June 11. Tiger was one of two winners on the day for James Jerkens, off to a ridiculous start at Belmont, at 7 for 14. Jockey Elbar Coa was quite impressed with this horse, who was making just his 8th lifetime start at age 5. "He was chasing and caught up to Bishop Court Hill by himself. He wasn't even blowing hard after the race. It was a real impressive effort." [Bloodhorse]

- There was a lot of talk about the 3rd race on Sunday, in which Khalila, the 2-5 morning line favorite, was declared a purse-only starter after trainer Kiaran McLaughlin informed the stewards that the horse would run with one of her rear shoes missing. The problem here is that the change occured before the pools opened for the race, so the horse simply showed up as a scratch on the tote board on TVG, as well as on any internet tote one would use. It’s entirely possible that people bet the race without knowing that the filly was running; I had no idea until she was discoverd on the track during the post parade on TVG. Without her in the race, Song and Dance looked like lone speed, and she was bet down to 4-1 probably based at least partly on that. But Khalila sat just behind and ate up Song and Dance, and by the half mile pole, she was already extending her lead en route to a ten length win, as Undeniable Queen, the longest shot on the board, came on to pick up the pieces for the pari-mutuel win.

Whatsmore, those who had the horse in the Pick 4 received the post-time favorite, Chili Cat, who ran third at 3-5 (as she did at Saratoga last August). Ugh. This was a bad deal for the bettors. It was a good one for MacLaughlin, whose three-year old is two-for-two; she finished the six furlongs in 1:09.87. She’s a $550,000 Elusive Quality filly, out of an AP Indy mare; and she’s a half to stakes winner Galloping Gal.

I made one bet on Sunday, in the fifth. Her Royal Nibs ran well in her first two career races at 5-2 and 7-2, graduating in her second try for Dale Romans. Then, in her first allowance race, she was 8-1, got off sluggishly, and finished 5th. On Sunday, she was 5-1 in the morning line, but got pounded on the nose in the win pool down to 8-5 with a few minutes left. Hello. No value there of course, but nice exacta payoffs with a couple of the longer-priced fillies that I also liked. This time, not surprisingly, Her Royal Nibs was first out of the gate and had the lead. The problem is that she got pushed by one of my choices for second, 9-1 Holy Kryptonite, who was more than just a bit closer to the favorite than I, or Her Royal Nibs, would have liked. They both held on gamely despite going 45.95 in the mile and a sixteenth race, but succumbed to 18-1 She’s Excellent. OK, at least I’m getting a little closer. And we’ll keep an eye out for Her Royal Nibs.