Mo Donegal wins the Belmont Stakes Rich Strike finishes off the rate

From time to time the bettors have it appropriate. The morning linemaker liked We the People today. The dreamers appreciated Wealthy Strike, the longshot winner of the Kentucky Derby. The sentimentalists appeared toward the only filly in the race, Nest.

But in the conclude, the winner of the 154th Belmont Stakes was Mo Donegal, the 5-2 favored.

The Todd Pletcher experienced 3-calendar year-previous colt picked up his fourth win in a seven-race profession, this time in the Belmont Stakes with jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. Pletcher also picked up 2nd with Nest.

The race started out as envisioned with We the Men and women going to the front with force from Skippylongstocking on the exterior. Nest, who stumbled at the gate, was in putting distance whilst Loaded Strike was trapped at the again of the eight-horse discipline.

It wasn’t right up until the extend that We the Persons appeared to be carried out as Mo Donegal drove on the outdoors and won by 3 lengths. Nest passed Skippylongstocking in the remaining strides to take next.

“We have been truly happy with the way equally horses ended up training,” Pletcher said. “I assumed equally horses ended up traveling really very well the full way. The issue I informed Irad is ‘You’ve bought the best final quarter of any horse in the race.’”

Pletcher was proper — some thing component-proprietor Jerry Crawford, of Donegal Racing, confirmed.

“To be trustworthy with you, we were a very little self-assured heading into the race and when he turned for house I reported, ‘Forget about it,’” Crawford claimed. “I realized Todd assumed he could get a sturdy last quarter mile and he absolutely did.”

Mo Donegal paid $7.20, $3.80 and $3.00. Nest was next followed by Skippylongstocking, We the Men and women, Artistic Minister, Prosperous Strike, Barber Road and Golden Glider.

Mo Donegal, correct, pulls absent from Nest to win the Belmont Stakes on Saturday.

(Frank Franklin II / Connected Press)

This year’s Belmont didn’t have the sizzle of previous many years with no Triple Crown on the line and no Preakness winner. But there were being plenty of storylines that held persons intrigued.

Rich Strike passed on the Preakness and everybody wished to see if he was the actual offer or a one-strike surprise. His fairytale story of successful the Kentucky Derby at 80-1 odds captured the interest of the place. But there was the question if he could acquire outside of Churchill Downs, in which he won his two lifetime races. That dilemma was answered Saturday.

There was also a great deal of desire in We the Persons, coming off a 10¼-length gain in the Peter Pan in excess of the similar Belmont Park floor. The horse was produced the 2-1 morning line most loved, which the general public turned down and created him the 2nd preferred at submit time.

Nest was the only filly in the race and was hoping to repeat what Pletcher did in 2007 when he gained this race with Rags to Riches.

But in the finish, it was all about Mo Donegal, whose identify will be etched into background.

As very good as the winner’s functionality was, most will agree that Flightline’s earn in the Metropolitan Handicap, greater acknowledged as the Satisfied Mile, was the very best functionality on the Belmont Stakes card. The Santa Anita-dependent colt, experienced by John Sadler, broke inadequately, bought shut off on the rail, but still went on to get by 6 lengths.

As for several of the Belmont Stakes horses, their next targets are the Haskell at Monmouth and the Travers at Saratoga.