Summer Bird pulls the upset in Belmont 141
For the second time in 3 years we’ve had each of the Triple Crown races won by different horses. In 2007 it was Street Sense, Curlin, and Rags to Riches. Now in 2009 it’s Mine That Bird, Rachel Alexandra, and Summer Bird. We mentioned in the pre-race handicapping that it would not be a surprise if the “other Birdstone” prevailed. With all of the attention focused on Mine That Bird, Charitable Man, and Dunkirk, the colt slipped under the radar and provided jockey Kent Desormeaux (who was white hot, winning 4 races on the day including 3 in a row at one point in the early going) with a perfect opportunity to atone for the disappointment of Big Brown in the 2008 Belmont.
Post time favorite Mine That Bird did what we thought he’d do. He ran his heart out and gave his best effort, but ultimately the ride by jockey Calvin Borel raised some eyebrows as many began questioning whether he asked the son of Birdstone for his run about a furlong or so too soon. It looked like Birdstone was a bit jumpy in the post parade, and about midway through the race he began giving Borel a bit of a fight, seeming to want to go at the horses to his front. After the job Borel has done this Triple Crown season, I think the guy deserves to be given some slack even if he did move a bit early. He’s only human, and it did look like the horse wanted to go.
Meanwhile, jockey Kent Desormeaux expertly piloted Summer Bird through a run that looked very Borel/Mine That Bird-ish. Patiently waiting at the back of the pack and positioned along the rail, Summer Bird eventually found a way through to the center of the track at the top of the stretch and then gunned down the dueling Mine That Bird and Dunkirk as Charitable Man began to fade. For a moment at the top of the stretch it looked like Mine That Bird, Dunkirk, and Charitable Man were going to give us a 3 horse battle right down to the wire. You can hear the wind being taken out of the crowd though as it became clear that none of these runners was going to resist Summer Bird’s powerful charge.
Dunkirk also turned in a gutsy performance, setting the early pace through splits of :23.31 and :47.13, much faster than many had anticipated. Many (including me) had expected Charitable Man and perhaps Miner’s Escape to set the early pace, but these two wound up taking behind Dunkirk in the early going along with Mr. Hot Stuff.
For being a longshot, Summer Bird sure made quite the post parade impression. I managed to tweet that he looked sensational as the field approached the gate. Luckily, at Amy’s urging, we put a quick win wager on him at the last second that came back quite lucrative. Summer Bird crossed the wire in 2:27.31 and returned $25.80 for the win after being sent off at odds of 11/1. It’s a good thing too, as we needed that win bet, having been bounced from the Pick 4 long before the Belmont when Gabby’s Golden Gal became the latest 3-year-old daughter of Medaglia d’Oro to shine on the center stage, joining Payton d’Oro and the super filly Rachel Alexandra.
With the Belmont in the books, the Triple Crown season is now officially history. Hats off to Mine That Bird, Rachel Alexandra, and Summer Bird for becoming the latest champions. Let’s hope that this crop of 3-year-olds continues to shine on the race track. It’ll be good for racing if Mine That Bird can bounce back later this year. The “little gelding that could” is still a sensational runner. Hopefully the distance of the Belmont didn’t zap his energy. He’s probably earned himself a lengthy layoff at this point to rest and recover. Without a future standing stud, his connections will likely keep him racing as long as he’s healthy.
Speaking of healthy, can we all breathe a bit of a collective sigh of relief now? We made it through the campaign without any serious injuries while in the national spotlight (although we did lose some good ones along the trail to injury, including but not limited to The Pamplemousse, Old Fashioned, Quality Road, and I Want Revenge). We watched nervously as a full Derby field trudging along in the slop at Churchill. We argued about the safety and soundness of a filly taking on the boys in the Preakness. And now we’ve had the grueling 1 1/2 mile distance of the Belmont, and as far as I’m aware at this moment in time all of the runners from these races have returned in relatively fine shape. Maybe we can finally move past some of the more recent tragedies the sport has suffered? Not that we’d ever want to forget…more so from a closure standpoint. If not move past these memories completely, then at least take a step forward.
So where does this crop of 3-year-olds rank in comparison to those of recent memory? It’s still too early to say for sure. Probably somewhere between the talented group from 2007 and the relatively weak group of 2008 (besides Big Brown) would be my guess. Now we’ll see how they do when they begin to take on older horses for the first times this summer. Usually that’s a fairly significant challenge, but the ranks of the quality older horses have been severely thinned in recent years.
At the end of the day, I still feel confident in saying that the best horses in the nation are Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra. If the versatile Einstein can take the Stephen Foster, then he’d certainly belong in the discussion as well. The point is that there’s plenty of room for runners like Mine That Bird, Summer Bird, Dunkirk, and any of the other Triple Crown competitors to come back and pick up additional graded stakes wins throughout the summer and fall.
For now though, congratulations to trainer Tim Ice and the connections for Summer Bird, and a big round of applause to Kent Desormeaux for his perfect ride. It may not have been the ending many expected, but it was still a beauty to behold.
And to think….right around the corner we’ve got Saratoga and Del Mar.
“Much like Chocolate Candy, he didn’t run all that badly in the Derby as he found a way to finish 6th. That means 13 other runners finished behind him. What’s more, he was a fast improving colt going into that race.”
The Derby form doesn’t matter at all, draw a line through that race. The evidence of SB’s distance fitness was in the Ark Dby paceline, his finishing ability from that race, and his pedigree. The BSF numbers completely underrated him both in the msw win and the Ark Dby which resulted in huge prices getting put on him. There is no trend of “fast improving” beyond the msw win although the 107 I got for the Belmont was a significant improvement over the 101 I got for his Ark Dby 3rd off his 99 msw win. Chocolate Candy was/is simply a slow horse.
[...] stories from Belmont weekend that is perhaps lost to a degree amidst the discussion surrounding the upset victory of the infamous “Other Bird” in Belmont 141 is the continued dominance of 3-year-old daughters of Medaglia d’Oro. A $5,754,720 lifetime [...]
Can’t help thinking about Joe Talamo, who didn’t get to race on Derby day on I Want Revenge and then was set for a while to be Summer Bird’s rider.
That was an exciting race Kevin. I didn’t think at first it was going to be. Summer Bird only ran a 100 Beyer. He didn’t improve really at all over his 99 he ran before the Derby race. Dunkirk bounced back well. I don’t know why he was on the lead though.
I went with Dunkirk again, but my fiance had $10 on Summer Bird to win and also hit the triple! We were there at the wire and I got a really nice picture as Summer Bird took the lead. Here’s a link to it on webshots…
http://sports.webshots.com/photo/2587831860099982989PrLxEx
“Summer Bird only ran a 100 Beyer. He didn’t improve really at all over his 99 he ran before the Derby race. ”
Compared to the Beyers of the horses he beat, I’d say he was underrated and yes he certainly did improve with the blinkers. I know a few figure makers and none of them could get that low for either the Belmont or the True North (111). I got 115 for Fabulous Strike and so did just about everybody else except Beyer.
“I don’t know why he was on the lead though”
Because the surface was fast and Johnny V tried to steal the race. It helps if a horse is bred to like a classic distance and Unbridled Song progeny generally do not. I put him under in the exacta. BSF 108 for Dunkirk equals *sucker horse*.
Don- you’re spot on about Chocolate Candy and Summer Bird. I should’ve trusted my eyes more and boosted Summer Bird in the selections, while downgrading Chocolate Candy. I just had this hunch that the time spent acclimating to Belmont might have a positive impact on CC. Guess not.
Sally – good point. Although as young as Joe is, I’m sure he’ll get another chance…and now he knows to appreciate those precious few opportunities when they do come. He’s still a kid with a bright future ahead of him.
Jerry – EXCELLENT photo! Hope you had a blast on Belmont day. Hopefully you and the wife combined picks and played an exacta?
“I just had this hunch that the time spent acclimating to Belmont might have a positive impact”
Rags To Riches worked at Bel, Curlin worked at CD. Summer Bird worked twice at Bel, MTB worked at CD. Belmont is a unique circumference and horses might do better with a couple of works there. The “bullrings” are similar. If I’m handicapping a cheap mcl race at Pomona Fair or Los Alamitos, I want to see bullring works and California breeding (we call it “local produce”). For Summer Bird the blinkers, Bel works and the switch to a more experienced rider, are all signs of positive trainer intent. I understand the trainer also fitted SB with toe-grab shoes on the back which may or may not have helped.
I read Dunkirk got injured. He might have won the Belmont maybe had he not.
“I read Dunkirk got injured. He might have won the Belmont maybe had he not.”
The real problem with Old Fashioned in the Ark Dby is that he didn’t get 9F. The real problem with Dunkirk is that he didn’t get 12F. Unbridled Song progeny rarely get beyond 9F and then it’s tends to be races like the 1-turn routes at Belmont. Eight Belles didn’t really want the Derby distance either. When these horses get used hard and run to the point of exhaustion, injury might occur.
I’ve got to agree with Don on both points he’s recently made…
1.) It was a mistake of me to bump up horses like Chocolate Candy just because they had been working at Belmont longer than SB.
2.) Their is defnitely something worrisome about the Unbridled Song line. This has come up before, and they do seem to be unusually prone to injury….especially at longer distances, as Don rightly points out.
Very interesting.
[...] respected runners. It might be said that the most recent incarnation of this trend began when Mine That Bird was upset by the “other Bird” (Summer Bird) in the Belmont Stakes. Heading into last weekend, much of the hype was then centered around the return of some of [...]
[...] One of the more tantalizing aspects of this development to consider is that if Rachel were somehow able to prevail in both the Haskell and the Travers (held August 29 at historic Saratoga), I do believe she’d become the first filly in history to sweep the two races. But such talk amounts to getting way ahead of ourselves for the moment. For now Rachel will be squarely focused on the matchup at hand, which should include a showdown with “the other Bird” in Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird. [...]
[...] on Haskell day at Monmouth Park. Since we got to meet Summer Bird that day, and since he was my wife’s Belmont pick, you best believe he’ll be on all my tickets. Am I worried about the synthetics? Nope, [...]