3 minute read
The day was marred somewhat by two fatal accidents to horses.
In the Allen Jerkens Memorial New York Thunder broke down in the straight and had to be euthanised. He had been one of the favourites and his connections are understandably distraught with his 33 year old trainer, Jorge Delgado, finding solace in being with his other horses at home in Monmouth.
New York Thunder had been favourite in the race and had the line in sight when he broke down depriving his trainer on what would have been his biggest win to date.
The win went to One in Vermillion on 20/1 with Esteban Martinez the trainer and Irad Ortiz the jockey with Verifying second and Arabian Lion third.
Earlier Gunite had no trouble in winning the Forego and the same for Echo Zulu in the Ballerina and with Good Night Olive second and Matareya third that was exactly as the market had it. Bolshoi Ballet finally justified Aidan O'Brien's confidence in winning the Sword Dancer from Soldier Rising and Pioneering Spirit.
Going out on to the track for Race 5, an Allowance, Noble a son of Lope de Vega owned by Qatar racing, went amiss and had to be euthanised.
After both incidents the track was carefully inspected and stewards, track officials and jockeys all agreed that the track was fine and racing should continue both in order to complete Saturday's big program and on Sunday.
And then we come to the Travers. Some early traffic problems meant that Javier Castellano on Arcangelo had to "wing it" rather than stick to a pre-race plan and in doing so he got a great rails run and got his head in front at the right time and followed up his run in the Belmont with this good performance. Disarm was second at 12/1 and Tapit Trice third on 13/1. Kentucky Derby winner Mage was last of the 7 runners.
Although the Breeders' Cup meet is 11 weeks away, the same time span as between the Belmont and the Travers, trainer Jena Antonucci wisely said that horses don't read time-tables and she would give her horse time to breath. He was in great form after the Travers and apparently letting his friends at home know that he had just won a second Gr 1.
