Exaggerator disappoints as Creator edges Destin by nose
ELMONT, N.Y. — Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux appeared to have Exaggerator perfectly positioned as he sat midpack in a field of 13 in the 148th Belmont Stakes on Saturday. But when he asked for the tremendous late kick that allowed his mount to rally for second in the Kentucky Derby and a win in the Preakness, the colt merely spun his wheels.
Creator, under a brilliant ride from precocious Irad Ortiz Jr., all but flew past as he split horses and overtook Destin by a nose in the final stride of the mile-and-ahalf marathon at Belmont Park. The outcome provided trainer Steve Asmussen with a signature victory in a year that will include his induction into the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., in August.
“It will look good on the plaque,” said Asmussen, 50, who won his first Belmont and tops all active trainers with more than 7,300 career victories.
The Desormeaux brothers were left to look for explanations after Exaggerator was beaten so decisively that Kent stopped urging him and wound up 11th. Lani, largely known before this for his bad-boy antics, rewarded the extensive conditioning program of Japanese trainer Mikio Matsunaga by finishing third.
Exaggerator’s trainer, Keith Desormeaux, said of his horse: “The Triple Crown might have caught up with him.”
Exaggerator benefited from sloppy tracks when he ruled the Santa Anita Derby by 61⁄4 widening lengths and took the Preakness by 31⁄2 lengths. Perhaps it was a sign that the son of two-time Horse of the Year Curlin had used up all of his good fortune that a powerful thunderstorm brought heavy rain only after Creator and Destin rushed to the wire almost as one.
“I was hoping to dispel the sloppy track thing, but that has to come into it as well,” Keith Desormeaux said. “I think it’s mostly, Belmont is a deep, sandy surface. He might have had a little trouble with it.”
Creator, a son of white-hot sire Tapit, as is Lani, earned only the fourth nose victory in Belmont history. Interestingly, it was the first such triumph since Victory Gallop, ridden by Gary Stevens, denied Kent Desormeaux’s Triple Crown bid aboard Real Quiet in 1998.
Asmussen and WinStar Farm, which purchased Creator for $440,000 as a yearling, must be credited for more than that hefty transaction. They kept faith in him after he finished a troubled 13th under Ricardo Santana Jr. in the Derby, and they made two major decisions after that: They replaced Santana with Ortiz and opted to start Gettysburg to ensure that there would be a solid pace for Creator, a deep closer.
Both moves helped to make the difference. Asmussen said of Ortiz: “He saved yards and won by inches.”
Gettysburg met his responsibilities by taking the field through the opening quarter in 24.09 seconds, the half-mile in 48.48 and three-quarters of a mile in 1:13.28.
Creator paid $34.80 to win. He covered the distance in 2 minutes, 28.51 seconds.