Belmont Stakes (Grade 1)

JAVIER Castellano grabbed a big handful of mane as Giovanni Flores led Arcangelo around the expansive Belmont Park walking ring. Trainer Jena Antonucci and her assistant Fiona Goodwin kept close tabs to the grey colt’s left, all while someone not named Frank Sinatra belted out the lines from ‘New York, New York,’ just ahead of the post parade for last Saturday’s 155th Belmont Stakes.

Nervous energy permeated the warm and clear air, a far cry from the orange-like smog that engulfed the New York Metropolitan area just three days before thanks to smoke from wildfires burning hundreds of miles away in Canada.

The same nervous vibe came to eastern Long Island after similar feelings in Louisville for the Kentucky Derby and Baltimore for the Preakness Stakes, the first two jewels of the Triple Crown run under intense scrutiny following an inordinate amount of fatal equine injuries this spring. Most of the 48,000-plus that turned out didn’t pay that much attention as the minutes ticked down to the Belmont Stakes, and as the field of nine made their way to the track for the mile and a half “Test of the Champion,” the energy around Arcaneglo became almost visible.

Castellano felt the confidence going to the post. He’d felt it during the son of Arrogate’s two breezes before the Belmont – on May 31st and June 6th – and knew the colt Jon Ebbert paid $35,000 at the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale for up for a big effort.

Lot of confidence

“First of all, I had a lot of confidence,” Castellano said. “Jena gave me the opportunity to ride a horse who had a lot of confidence.”

Those confidences paid off and Arcangelo delivered a historic performance, winning by a length and a half over last year’s champion two-year-old male Forte to become the first American classic winner trained by a woman.

Antonucci, 47, made her Triple Crown debut with Arcangelo, who didn’t make his own debut until mid-December and won the Belmont on just his fifth start.

The victory attracted plenty of mainstream attention for Antonucci and for racing, which endured more than its share of bad publicity this spring following the rash of breakdowns that even came in undercard stakes on the Kentucky Derby and Preakness programmes. The wave of better feelings came over Belmont Park following Arcangelo’s victory.

Antonucci and Goodwin let the tears flow heading down to meet Arcangelo on the way to the winner’s circle and the former was still choked up a good half-hour later meeting the media during the post-Belmont press conference.

“I don’t have a polished answer,” Antonucci said when asked the significance of her history-making win. “They say there’s no crying in baseball but they never said it about horse racing.”

The Belmont was Antonucci’s 162nd career victory, and it came at the expense of her colleagues Bob Baffert, Todd Pletcher, Steve Asmussen and Brad Cox – who collectively have more than 21,000 wins and armfuls of classic victories.

Prove your worth

“You take it on the chin, you fight for that spot and you feel you have to prove your worth,” Antonucci said. “Horses don’t care. They don’t care who you are, they know who you are.

“To have a horse believe in you and your team, the way this horse does, to believe in Fiona, we’ve been together a long time.

“To believe in Katie (Miranda, a member of the team), Robert (Mallari, exercise rider), his groom Giovanni. He sees you and I wish more people could be like horses. Obviously, it’s an amazing gift. I am immensely grateful. I cannot say that enough. A lot of stars have aligned.”

Antonucci heaped plenty of praise on Ebbert, who runs in the name of Blue Rose Farm. He originally purchased Arcangelo as a pinhooking prospect, decided to keep the colt to race and eventually shrugged off several offers to sell a partial or whole interest in the colt after showing promise at two and even more potential at three.

“This crazy guy gave the girls a chance and there’s a lot of credit to that man right there,” Antonucci said. “His phone rang, and rang, and rang. It was ‘we’re going to buy the horse, move the horse, give it to the guys.’ No offense to them, I love them all. … But he gave the girl a chance.”

Developing friendship

To Ebbert the decision to stick with Antonucci was as much about her ability with horses as their still developing friendship that didn’t start until shortly before the 2021 Keeneland sale.

“She’s detailed oriented, very trustworthy, she’s personable and we’re friends,” he said. “Most trainers I’ve had in the past, we haven’t had a personal relationship. We laugh, we joke, we’re all friends … and she has the best team.

“She’s an amazing person and will try her best for each owner. In bigger barns I don’t think it’s the same. With bigger trainers they pick and choose which owner and favour certain owners. I’ve gone to those barns.

“With Jena, every owner is her friend and she treats them with the highest respect and gratitude, I can’t say anymore. She’s been amazing and that’s why we’re here.”

Antonucci and Ebbert didn’t decide immediately to take on the 12 furlongs of the Belmont Stakes after Arcangelo won the Grade 3 Peter Pan Stakes, a key prep run the weekend before the Preakness. They opted to wait, just as they’d done with the colt who didn’t make his first start until mid-December at Gulfstream Park.

When Arcangelo breezed five furlongs in 1m 02.81secs with Castellano aboard on May 31st, Antonucci and Ebbert were locked in. One more work – a half in 48.94secs, again with Castellano – sharpened the knife for the second Saturday in June.

First Derby

Castellano, who won his first Kentucky Derby in May aboard Mage, liked his chances for a first Belmont in his 15th attempt aboard the “young horse developing the right way in the right direction.”

Sent off at nearly 8/1 and the fifth choice behind Forte, Angel Of Empire, Tapit Trice and National Treasure, Arcangelo raced sixth early before inching up toward the leaders on the backstretch.

Castellano liked the response he received every step of the Belmont’s demanding distance, moved the colt into second around the far turn, cut the corner to the inside of leader National Treasure and opened up in the stretch.

Arcangelo widened his advantage to three and a half lengths in midstretch, came well off the rail late and held off the late charges of Forte, Tapit Trice and Hit Show, who finished in a three-way battle for the place.

Forte wound up getting the runner-up spot, by a nose over his stablemate Tapit Trice. Arcangelo won in 2m29.23secs, and earned $900,000 for his connections.

Be patient

“The horse did an amazing job today,” Castellano said. “The way he developed himself on the first turn, he was aggressive in a good way. He wanted to run today. I had to be patient with him, saying, ‘not yet, not yet, buddy, we have a long way to go.’ I had to be patient to find the best rhythm in the race.

“I liked the way he did it on the backside. He followed the horses in the right way, and travelled very well. My goal was to put the horse outside and let him roll, but I didn’t have the opportunity; the only choice I had was the inside on the rail.”

Antonucci said Arcangelo would eventually head with her small stable to Saratoga Race Course for the summer meet, where a possible rematch could loom with Forte and Tapit Trice, along with Derby winner Mage, and any other late-developing three-year-olds in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes.

The trip to upstate New York won’t be Arcangelo’s first, however, as he spent the summer there as a two-year-old in 2022 learning the ropes of racing under Antonucci and her team’s watchful eye.

“He’s grown. He’s matured,” Antonucci said. “We have schooled and schooled and schooled, and exposed him to this. There was a reason we sent him to Saratoga last year, to listen to the people, to hear the crowds, to get desensitized to all of this stuff. … From March to the Peter Pan to now, it’s been continuing to try and help him understand it, to understand the process.

“There’s a reason why it’s called joining up with a horse. If they don’t trust you, they’re going to get in moments and get uncertain.”