Gormley hopes to rebound at Belmont after struggling with wet Preakness track
Reporting from elmont, n.y. — Owners Ann and Jerry Moss hope Gormley returns them to racing’s heights in the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes on Saturday at Belmont Park after their bid for the Preakness Stakes went painfully awry.
Gormley, the Santa Anita Derby winner, endured a difficult trip and did not respond well to a wet track at Churchill Downs in finishing ninth, 14 ¼ lengths behind victorious Always Dreaming, in the Kentucky Derby. That disappointment, though, was minor compared with what the Mosses experienced when Royal Mo sustained a career-ending injury during his final workout for the Preakness.
Royal Mo, a $300,000 yearling purchase, had run third in the Santa Anita Derby and won the Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes earlier in the year. He fractured a sesamoid in his right front leg during a five-furlong drill at Baltimore’s Pimlico Race Course six days before he was to compete in the Preakness.
The Mosses have played the game at the highest level with the extraordinary mare Zenyatta, a winner of all but the last of her 20 starts, and Giacomo, who pulled a stunning upset at 50-1 in the Kentucky Derby in 2005. As much as Jerry Moss cherishes those memories, he is struggling to put Royal Mo’s ill-fated career behind him.
“We all feel very badly about that,†he said. “Sometimes you just don’t get over these things. On the face of it you do, but that was a tremendous loss. He was a tremendous horse just coming into his own.â€
A victory by Gormley would provide a timely lift for the Mosses and John Shirreffs, their trainer. Gormley and jockey Victor Espinoza received post three as part of a field of 12 when positions were drawn. They are rated 8-1 in the morning line.
The mile-and-a-half Belmont, being run for the 149th time, lost much of its luster when Always Dreaming and Preakness winner Cloud Computing were not entered. Preakness runner-up Classic Empire had to be withdrawn due to a foot abscess. Irish War Cry is a tepid 7-2 favorite despite finishing 10th in the Kentucky Derby, a status that says much about the Belmont field.
Still, the race looms large for Moss in establishing Gormley’s quality and value as a stallion prospect.
“Should we need any further advertisement for Gormley at stud, certainly a Belmont winner would be very glossy indeed,†Moss said.
He described Gormley, named after 66-year-old British sculptor Antony Gormley, as an “on and off†horse. The bay son of Malibu Moon opened his 3-year-old season by taking the Grade 3 Sham Stakes at Santa Anita only to finish a perplexing fourth in the Grade 2 San Felipe. His half-length triumph in the Santa Anita Derby was followed by a dismal Kentucky Derby result.
If that pattern holds, Gormley, who has flashed early speed, can be a major player in the diluted Belmont. “I believe he’ll probably run close to the lead most of the race and then perhaps sprint past everybody,†Moss said. “That would be my way he could possibly do this.â€
Gormley is not the brightest West Coast star appearing as part of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. That honor would go to Songbird. She will make her 4-year-old debut in the $750,000 Odgen Phipps, one of five Grade 1 races on the Belmont Stakes undercard.
The breathtakingly fast daughter of Medaglia d’Oro rattled off 11 consecutive victories for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, seven of them Grade 1 triumphs, before absorbing her lone defeat with a nose loss to the brilliant Beholder in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Nov. 4.
Hopes are high for Songbird to fashion a memorable campaign. “She has a lot more muscle and flesh on her than she did last year,†said Mike Smith, her regular rider. She is favored at 1-2 in the 1 1/16-mile contest. She worked four furlongs in a blistering 46 2/5 seconds on Tuesday.
Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert may be positioned for a windfall. In a testament to his operation, he shipped four horses east that are favored in their respective races. Mor Spirit heads the $1.2 million Metropolitan Handicap, surprising Kentucky Oaks victor Abel Tasman is listed at 2-1 to take the $700,000 Acorn, American Anthem is 5-2 in the $500,000 Woody Stephens and West Coast is 5-2 in the $150,000 Easy Goer.
Smith rides them all as part of an afternoon in which the undercard may be more compelling than the main event.
Go beyond the scoreboard
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