SARATOGA SPRINGS — Dornoch will forever have his name etched in the horse racing history books. He is the first horse to win the $2 million Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. The 17-1 long shot fought off a late charge from Todd Pletcher-owned Mindframe and the morning-line favorite Sierra Leone to win the 156th running of the Belmont Stakes.
It is the sixth straight year that three different horses have won a Triple Crown race. “I never lost faith in him. He had tremendous work up here, he’s a big, powerful horse.
You just have to be patient and not lose focus, just continue to grind away. Hopefully, you get lucky and win one of these.” trainer Danny Gargan said.
“We got overlooked a little bit because he ran one bad race. Now, they’ll look at us a little more next time, hopefully.” Dornoch paid $37.
40 on a $2 win wager. Jockey Luis Saez spoke on the “perfect race” run by Dornoch over the 1 1/4-mile Spa course. “It was a pretty good race.
The horse broke pretty sharp, we had the position we were looking for. He did everything right,” Saez said. “He came to the top of the stretch and I still had a lot of horse.
He fights to get there first. He’s a horse that really has a big heart and man, he ran the perfect race.” Dornoch rode the inside rail hard down the stretch and finished in 2:01.
64, a half-length ahead of Mindframe. Gargan has seen success with Saez in the past and knew he could get the job done at Belmont with Dornoch. “He loves the .