San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Essential Quality pulls out victory
Favorite wears down Hot Rod Charlie for 6th win in 7 starts
NEW YORK — Favorite Essential Quality won the Belmont Stakes on Saturday to give trainer Brad Cox his first victory in a Triple Crown race — maybe.
Cox could get another from Mandaloun in the Kentucky Derby if Bob Baffert-trained Medina Spirit is disqualified. But Cox was able to enjoy this one with Essential Quality beating Hot Rod Charlie by 1¼ lengths.
Essential Quality, who went off as the 6-5 favorite, passed early leader Hot Rod Charlie around the final turn and held on to win the 1½-mile $1 million race.
“That was a long way around there a mile a half but it was exciting,” Cox said. “It looked like the horse on the inside, he still had run left. I knew it was going to be a battle down the line.”
Preakness winner Rombauer was third and Known Agenda fourth.
The striking gray finished fourth as a beaten favorite in the Kentucky Derby because of a rough trip. Essential Quality showed in the Belmont why he has long been considered one of the top 3-year-olds in the country.
Backdooring his way to becoming the first Louisville-born trainer to win the Kentucky Derby didn’t allow Cox the same joy of victory as the Belmont, which the up-and-coming star will likely remember as his first true Triple Crown triumph.
And Cox saw this coming. He predicted last summer that Essential Quality would be his horse for the Belmont.
Essential Quality had plenty of stamina to beat a tough field of seven other horses.
Jockey Luis Saez won a Triple Crown race for the first time. He was aboard Maximum Security when they crossed the finish line first in the 2019 Derby, but was disqualified for impeding other horses.
“Luis did a fantastic job of get
ting him in position turning for home and he was able to really show his stamina late,” Cox said.
Saez said Belmont was his “second home,” adding, “This was the race I wanted to win.”
United Arab Emirates ruler Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum owns Essential Quality.
Cox made it a point to thank him moments after the Belmont.
“Sheik Mohammed, he’s been supporting us the last two years and this is a tremendous organization, world-class organization and we wouldn’t be here obviously without this horse and his support, so I just wanted to really thank him,” Cox said.
Sheik Mohammed faces scrutiny of human rights issues after a judge in England ruled that he orchestrated the abductions of two of his adult daughters.
Silver State paid $13.40, $6.30 and $3.80 in earning a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. By My Standards returned $7.40 and $3.70 while Mischevious Alex was $3.30 to show.
Earlier, Kentucky Oaks runner-up Search Results held off a late charge by Obligatory to capture the $500,000 Acorn for 3-yearold fillies With Javier Castellano filling in for the injured Irad Ortiz Jr., Search Results covered the mile in 1:35.5 in scoring by a half length. The Chad Brown-trained Search Results paid $3.80, $2.60 and $2.10 in winning for the fourth time in five career starts.
Her only loss was in Kentucky by a neck to Malathaat, who has not raced since. Malathaat was a candidate to run in the Belmont Stakes against the colts before owners and trainer Todd Pletcher decided against undertaking that challenge.
Obligatory returned $4 and $3.10, while third-place finisher Make Mischief was $3.70 to show in the field of five.
The scene at the Belmont Stakes was a return to normalcy even if it isn’t quite the crowd of 100,000-plus that would attend if a Triple Crown were on the line. It’s more quiet than usual.
Mostly maskless fans had no trouble finding room to walk around the vast grandstand hours before the running of the race. While New York State removed the cap on attendance amid easing of pandemic restrictions, officials expected a crowd of roughly 11,000 for the big race day.
Fans were required to pre-purchase tickets.