Notably missing from the 2017 Belmont Stakes field will be Kentucky Derby victor Always Dreaming and Preakness Stakes victor Cloud Computing.
"It could not have unfolded any better", said Pletcher, who took Triple Crown hopeful Always Dreaming into the Preakness this spring but saw the Kentucky Derby-winning horse falter and finish eighth. Patch was a non-factor in the Kentucky Derby, but has held out of the Preakness and might have the fresh legs to make a run at a top-three finish.
Japan's Epicharis is also highly rated but there have been only nine foreign-born winners, the last being Canada's Victory Gallop in 1998. "I don't think it would be a surprise if either of them ran well".
Tapwrit, safely tucked away to Irish War Cry's outside, made his move and blew the doors off Irish War Cry.
Senior Investment surged late to take third in the Preakness and his trainer, Ken McPeek, won the 2002 Belmont with 70-1 shot Sarava. Gormley, ninth in the Derby, finished fourth Saturday.
Tapwrit completed the mile and a half in 2:30.02.
Winning jockey Ortiz was emulating his brother Irad, who won last year's Belmont on Creator.
"This might be my Derby horse", Ortiz said at the time.
Irish War Cry returned $4.70 and $3.90, while Patch, the one-eyed horse trained by Pletcher, paid $6.50 to show.
Pletcher also trained Belmont winners Rags to Riches in 2007 and Palace Malice in 2013. Maybe more. He charged home for a two-length victory against Irish War Cry in the 149Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets before 57,729 spectators at Belmont Park.
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Derby win was awesome, and the ebbs and flows of this game are well-documented.
Pletcher is quietly building his Triple Crown race resume, which now is up to five wins for a trainer who will turn 50 in less than three weeks. They want to be in a tactical position. We were fortunate it all fell into place.
The 23-year-old native of Puerto Rico saw his horse respond.
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Cali-based trainer Bob Baffert won the Easy Goer with a horse named - wait for it - West Coast, then went on a scorched-earth rampage across the grounds, going 4-for-4, all in graded stakes, by a combined 14 1/4 lengths and racking up nearly $1.4 million in purse money in the process. Preakness victor Cloud Computing did the same. Classic Empire, the expected favourite, dropped out on Wednesday with a foot abscess.
The Japanese-bred Epicharis was scratched from the race early Saturday morning.
Trainer Kiyoshi Hagiwara said via an interpreter in a statement released by New York Racing Association: "The horse is close to being able to compete, but we ran out of time".
All that left it a wide-open race, and in the end it was Tapwrit that proved he was up to the grueling 1 1/2-mile challenge. "Tapwrit was getting a lovely trip", Pletcher added.
"Tapwrit was getting a attractive trail and it was everything that we'd talked about before the race".
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