ELMONT, N.Y. -- Hansel, the winner of the Preakness, withstood a late but gallant charge by Strike the Gold Saturday to win the 123rd Belmont Stakes and collect a $1 million bonus by capturing two legs of the Triple Crown.
In vindicating a dismal 10th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, Hansel must now be considered the top 3-year-old in his class.
'It was a great moment,' Hansel jockey Jerry Bailey said. 'He may not have been a mile-and-a-half horse, but his heart got him there.'
Hansel, trained by Frank Brothers, won by a head over Strike the Gold, the Kentucky Derby winner. Mane Minister, as is becoming something of a habit, came in third, his finish in all three Triple Crown races.
'I was working hard the whole way,' Strike the Gold jockey Chris Antley said. 'Anytime you're going a mile and a half and you're last at the quarter pole, you have a long way to go.'
Hansel, who went off as a 4-1 shot on a superb day for racing at Belmont Park, becomes the 10th horse to win the Preakness and the Belmont, the last being Little Current in 1974.
The winner completed the 1 -mile finale to the Triple Crown in 2:28, the fastest time since Affirmed won in 1978. Affirmed, in winning the Triple Crown that year, beat out Strike the Gold's father, Alydar.
Hansel paid $10.20, $6.40 and $5. Strike the Gold placed at $5 and $4 and Mane Minister returned $4.40.
'Chris did a great job from outside post,' Strike the Gold trainer Nick Zito said. 'He rode a tremendous race. What can you say? Hansel's a good horse. We'll try it again.'
Hansel's inexplicable trip in the Derby so upset the colt's handlers they shipped him to Chicago before deciding to go to the Preakness. He won the second leg of the Triple Crown going away, by seven lengths. That victory set up a Belmont showdown with Strike the Gold.
Before a crowd of 51,766, the blistering pace was established by Another Review and Corporate Report. But the two weren't able to keep up after running a half mile just two-fifths of a second under the record pace of :46 3-5 set by the great Secretariat in 1973.
Hansel raced on Lasix in the first two legs of the Triple Crown. The controversial diuretic, which is used to treat pulmonary bleeding, is barred in New York racing. But, drug or no drug, this was Hansel's day.
The bay colt took the lead from Corporate Report around the far turn and sprinted clear of the 11-horse field at the top of the stretch and had just enough left to hold off a charging Strike the Gold.
With Antley under orders to restrain Strike the Gold, the Kentucky Derby winner was dead last with a half mile to go on the fast track. Then he made his thundering move.
And, as was the case in the Kentucky Derby, Strike the Gold began to loop the field. He passed a pack that included Mane Minister and Corporate Report. Had the race been a few strides longer, Strike the Gold likely would have won.
Hansel returned $417,480 to owner Joe Allbritton and now has career earnings of $1,661,586. Strike the Gold brought home $153,076 and Mane Minister, ridden by Alex Solis, earned $83,496.
Finishing out of the money was Preakness runner-up Corporate Report, 2 lengths behind Mane Minister. He was followed by Scan, another 10 lengths back, Quintana and Lost Mountain.
Irish-shipper Smooth Performance, who came out of quarantine hours before the race and was running for the first time on dirt, was a distant eighth. Subordinated Debt, with Julie Krone the first woman jockey to ride in the Belmont, was ninth. Green Alligator was 10th and Another Review last.
In vindicating his dismal 10th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, Hansel collected a $1 million bonus pool and must be considered the top 3-year-old in his class.
Hansel, trained by Frank Brothers and ridden by Jerry Bailey, won by a head over Strike the Gold, the Kentucky Derby winner. Mane Minister, as is becoming something of a habit, came in third, his finish in all three Triple Crown races.
'I was working hard the whole way,' Strike the Gold jockey Chris Antley said. 'Anytime you're going a mile and a half and you're last at the quarter-pole, you have a long way to go.
'He made a good run. I dropped back to save a little ground. It's tough from the outside hole. Maybe if we had run it from the inside, it would have been a different story.'
Hansel, who went off as a 4-1 shot on a superb day for racing at Belmont Park, becomes the 10th horse to win the Preakness and the Belmont, the last being Little Current in 1974.
The winner completed the 1 -mile finale to the Triple Crown in 2:28, the fastest time since Affirmed won in 1978.
Hansel paid $10.20, $6.40 and $5. Strike the Gold placed at $5 and $4 and Mane Minister returned $4.40.
'Chris did a great job from outside post,' Strike the Gold trainer Nick Zito said. 'He rode a tremendous race. What can you say? Hansel's a good horse. We'll try it again.'
Hansel's inexplicable trip in the Derby so upset the colt's handlers they shipped him to Chicago before deciding to go to the Preakness. He won the second leg of the Triple Crown going away, by seven lengths. That victory set up a Belmont showdown with Strike the Gold.
The blistering pace was established by Another Review and Corporate Report, but the two weren't able to keep up after running a half mile just two-fifths of a second under the record pace of :46 3-5 set by the great Secretariat in 1973.NEWLN: more
