Girl Gone Wild! Rags to Riches Wins Belmont Stakes

Rags to Riches took the monkey off the back of her trainer, Todd Pletcher, and jockey, John Velazquez, who finally got their first Triple Crown race winner.

Photo by: Adam Coglianese Courtsey:nyra.com

NEW YORK - The Queen is now King of the Hill.

Rags to Riches became the third filly in history and the first since Belmont Park opened in 1905 to win the longest and oldest leg of the Triple Crown when she got a head in front of favored Preakness winner Curlin on Saturday afternoon and won the 139th running of the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes – the 1 ½-mile “Test of the Champion.”

She passed this test with flying colors, and did her family proud.

Her father, A.P. Indy, won the 1992 Belmont Stakes. Her dam, Better Than Honour, also dropped her half-brother, 2006 Belmont Stakes winner Jazil.

She took the monkey off the back of her trainer, Todd Pletcher, and jockey, John Velazquez, who finally got their first Triple Crown race winner.

She put herself in the leading role as Horse of the Year for her wealthy owners, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith, adding to her future value as a broodmare.

And, she paid $10.60 for every $2 win ticket among the feminists in the crowd of 46,870.

“As a rule, we’re probably the one everyone is rooting against,” said Pletcher, who set single-season records for stakes wins (100) and graded stakes wins (57) in 2006 and earnings ($26,820,243) with his powerhouse stable. “We’re the underdog today; that was kind of sweet. The reception was kind of unbelievable.

“After we made the decision to run this filly, the reaction from the racing community was very enthusiastic. If nothing else, it was great for racing. Obviously, the end result, it was great for the filly.”

It was also great for Velazquez.

Not quite three weeks ago, jockey agent Ron Anderson, made the decision to accept the mount on Kentucky Derby winner and Preakness third-place finisher Hard Spun for his jockey, Garrett Gomez.

Gomez was the regular rider of Rags to Riches, and Pletcher’s other go-to jockey, Velazquez, had accepted a mount on Slew’s Tizzy for the Belmont.

On Wednesday morning, Pletcher announced that Rags to Riches would take on the boys in the Belmont Stakes, getting a five-pound break from the males who had to lug 126 pounds each. Greg Fox had released Velazquez from Slew’s Tizzy and Pletcher had one of his boys in the irons.

“I told (Anderson) it is going to be awfully hard for me to take Johnny off if this filly wins,” Pletcher said. “It’s very unfortunate for Garrett. I feel badly for him, for Ron Anderson.”

With no one wanting to commit to the lead, jockey Edgar Prado sent C P West to the front and kept him well off the rail for the first quarter of a mile in :24.74.

Pressed by longshot Slew’s Tizzy, C P West crawled through a half in :50.14 and three quarters of 1:15.32.

Rags to Riches, who had stumbled at the start to make an already ill Pletcher feel that much sicker, was kept outside and out of trouble by Velazquez.

“When she stumbled, I had an immediately bad feeling,” Pletcher said. “But Johnny (Velazquez) and I talked and we wanted to be patient, keep her face clean. We’re fortunate to get it done.”

Velazquez was on the same page as Pletcher, and knew that the 1 ½-mile Belmont offered plenty of chance to overcome early problems.

“She stumbled in error and the first thing I thought was,`Why did it happen right now?,’” Pletcher said. “But Todd and I had talked and all we wanted was to give her a good chance around the turn. We didn’t want her jumping up and wasting a lot of energy. Garrett Gomez told me she will give you 100 percent without asking. It was unfortunate for him that he turned over the horse, but this victory goes with him, too.”

The victory overshadowed another brilliant effort by Curlin, who got a nose down to defeat Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense in the Preakness and who fought almost as well as a horse can fight on the Triple Crown trail.

“I thought Curlin ran extremely well,” said trainer Steve Asmussen. “They came into the stretch pretty much heads-up. He fought back very well. My hat is off to Rags to Riches. They ran the last quarter in :23 4/5 in a mile and a half race and she’s a deserving classic winner. We lose one the exact same way we won one.

“I think Todd’s very deserving (of a classic victory.) He does a great job and his filly ran a great race on the right day. In our camp, I thought Curlin came home really well. Robby (Albarado) gave him a nice trip and he ran all the way to the wire.

“Curlin is definitely a throw-back. The races that he’s run since March with the pressure that’s been on him, I can’t say enough about him. We’re very proud of him.”

It was five and a half lengths back to Tiago in third, followed by Hard Spun, C P Wewst, Imawildandcrazyguy and Slew’s Tizzy.

“We were very happy to hit the board in the race,” said Tiago’s trainer, John Shirreffs. “I talked to Mike (Smith) after the race and he said that the first two got a good jump on him and opened up real quick. We were very pleased with the effort. If you know anything about Pleasant Taps, they don’t start getting good until their four-year-old year. This was a big step for him. He demonstrated that he had the class, and with physical talent and maturity, he is just going to get better.”

Hard Spun, who also danced every Triple Crown dance, will likely have fans and trainer Larry Jones wondering is a mistake was made in replacing jockey Mario Pino with Gomez.

“Everything seems okay, he’s just a little tired,” Jones said. “There’s nothing we can do but lick our wounds and see what happens later down the road. The pace was very slow. I thought that was our game plan leaving the paddock: to have these kinds of fractions, but be in front doing it. Apparently, we had a miscommunication somewhere. I know C P West and Slew’s Tizzy that were on the front finished behind us, so I don’t know how much slower you can get it and still hang out there.

“The filly (Rags to Riches) ran very well. A mile and a half and getting five pounds makes a lot more difference than running three-quarters and getting five pounds. Maybe that did it. She was fresh. Curlin and my horse had been battling on pretty hard. Maybe the fatigue factor starts taking its toll a little more here. It looked like he came back okay and will live to fight another day.”

As for Rags to Riches, having proven herself against males, she might go back to taking on members of her own gender and age in Saratoga’s Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama for three-year-old fillies on Saturday, August 18.

After all, classy girls like her have it made in Saratoga.

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