Belmont Day Speed Figures

For those that follow the sport of racing regularly, the Daily Racing Form's Beyer Speed Figures give you some insight into how fast the horses ran. The 2010 renewal of the Belmont produced some very moderate (and disappointing) Beyer Figures but some other horses on the card shined.

One of the stars from Saturday was 3-year-old Trappe Shot. He has won his last three very impressively and ran a Beyer of 105, the second best the entire day. Expect to see him take on the "big boys" in the near future.

Here are the Belmont figures plus others of note:

BELMONT STAKES

Drosselmeyer            94
Fly Down                  93
First Dude                 93
Game on Dude          91
Uptowncharlybrown  90
Stay Put                    86

Ice Box                     81
Make Music For Me 75

MANHATTAN

Winchester               102
Gio Ponti                  101

ACORN

Champagne d'Oro     95
Amen Hallelujah        94

TRUE NORTH

Bribon                     107
Snapshot                 103

JUST A GAME

Proviso                    96
Phola                       95

WOODY STEPHENS

D'Funnybone           100
Discreetly Mine        93

2010 Belmont

Coming into this year's Belmont Stakes, with the absence of Super Saver and Lookin at Lucky, it certainly took something away from the "Test of Champions" but we still saw a fantastic race on Saturday.

Drosselmeyer finally lived up to his early season hype (and $600,000 price tag) and grounded out a win over Fly Down and First Dude. But it is hard to get excited about Drosselmeyer and I am trying to put my finger on why.

Is it because the final time of the race was an uninspiring 2:31.57?

Because trainer Bill Mott isn't the most exciting personality in racing?

Is it because Drosselmeyer is a horse that has found a way to lose six of his eight starts when most expected him to win nearly off them?

I am certain there are even more reasons that I can't think of but not as the sun is setting here at Belmont Park.

It was was a bummer that Ice Box, the Derby runner-up, never fired and finished 9th. Also not running his best was Make Music For Me, trained by Alexis Barba, as he finished 10th. Both horses had excuses but never good to see some of best out of the Kentucky Derby run so poorly.

One thing to get excited about is that we have a very murky 3-year-old picture and no one has emerged as the best. Now Super Saver, Lookin at Lucky and Drosselmeyer will slug it out during the next four months to determine who is the best sophomore.

Also was exciting to see First Dude run another gutty performance as he set the pace in the Belmont and hung on for a 3rd place finish.

After next week's big races at Churchill Downs and Hollywood, most of the stars in racing will get some time off until the summer racing seasons at Del Mar and Saratoga. Then it should be tons of fun to see the best battle for supremacy.

Belmont Order of Finish

1) Drosselmeyer
2) Fly Down
3) First Dude
4) Game on Dude
5) Stay Put
6) Interactif
7) Stately Victor
8) Ice Box
9) Make Music For Me
10) Dave in Dixie
11) Spangled Star
12) Uptowncharlybrown*

*Uptowncharlybrown finished fifth but was disqualified and placed last

Weekend Wrap

Now that we have four Kentucky Derby prep races in the books, the picture for the Derby has gotten a little more cluttered.

No horse was overly impressive but will be curious to see if the Sunland Park Derby first three finishers (Endorsement, Conveyance and Tempted to Tapit) move forward. That race had the fastest time of all the prep races and remember that race produced last year's Derby winner - Mine That Bird (right).

But finishing in the top two in your last prep race before the Derby has been crucial. Since 1988, only five horses finished worse then second in their final race and went on to win the Derby. Those five are (1990 - Unbridled, 3rd Blue Grass; 1993 - Sea Hero, unplaced in Blue Grass; 1995 - Thunder Gulch, 4th Blue Grass; 2005 - Giacomo, 3rd Santa Anita Derby; 2009 - Mine That Bird, 4th Sunland Park Derby.)

Since there hasn't been a dominant 3-year-old this year, it looks like more than 20 will want to start in the Derby. If that holds true, then it will come down to which horses have enough Graded Stakes earnings to get into the Top 20.

After the four races this weekend, there are some bigger names that would be excluded. Among those that are on the "outside looking in" with their position on the list:

24 - Pleasant Prince, winner of the Florida Derby

25 - Tempted to Tapit, 3rd in the Sunland Park Derby

27 - Connemara, 3rd in the Lane's End

28 - Northern Giant, 2nd in the Lane's End

32 - Drosselmeyer - 3rd in the Louisiana Derby

There are still a handful of races to go but the money situation will hold the key for which 20 horses we see on the first Saturday in May.

Photo courtesy of Eclipse Sportswire

Unimpressive Saturday

As we wind our way through the final Kentucky Derby preps, you hope that a horse jumps up and shows that he is a star on the rise.

After watching the big 3-year-old races on Saturday, you have to feel let down by what transpired.

The day kicked off with the $2,000,000 UAE Derby in Dubai and the best performance in that race by a sophomore was a third place finish by Mendip. That colt, who was 3-for-3 coming into that heat, is owned by racing powerhouse Godolphin who has yet to win a Kentucky Derby but wants to win one in the worst way. Not sure if he will make the trip to Louisville but it's a good guess that he will.

The next race on the slate was the Lane's End at Turfway Park. This race has not produced a major Derby contender in some years so there was no great hope that one would emerge and the race lived down to those expectations.

Dean's Kitten, (left) owned by Ken and Sarah Ramsey and trained by Mike Maker, took the $500,000 event but his time was very slow over the "artificial dirt" and the field was not very good. The beaten favorite, Connemara, finished an unimpressive third but you should expect to see him in the Derby.

But there was hope in the final race of the day with the $750,000 Louisiana Derby. There appeared to be some horses with a bright future but once again, we were let down. The only bright spot was for trainer Todd Pletcher who added yet another horse to his growing stable for the "Run for the Roses" as Mission Impazible (right) wore down pacesetter A Little Warm in the stretch for an impressive three-quarters of a length win. Pletcher's other entrant in the race, Discreetly Mine, ran fourth.

Pletcher has eight horses that could run in the Derby and five are safely inside the Top 20 list of Graded Stakes earnings (Rule, Mission Impazible, Discreetly Mine, Interactif and Aikenite).

The horse with perhaps the biggest upside and talent in the Louisiana Derby, Drosselmeyer, ran a closing third but now may not be able to get into the Derby as he only has $94,500 in Graded Stakes earnings. It's likely he'll need another $100,000 or so to get in and he is doubtful to run again.

One can only hope that Sunday's $800,000 Sunland Park Derby, which produced 2009 Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, will have a winner with a little more flash that we saw on Saturday.

Photos courtesy of Eclipse Sportswire