With Japanese raider Epicharis out of the picture due to lameness in the 149th Belmont Stakes it was Todd Pletcher’s Tapwrit who surged past Graham Motion’s Irish War Cry in the final leg of the US Triple Crown series on Saturday.
It was a home win for Pletcher, who is based at Belmont Park in New York, and with his third winner of the race he became the first trainer to claim the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes with two different horses since D Wayne Lukas in 1996.
It was a special moment in the career of Puerto Rican rider Jose Ortiz, too, and with his first victory he followed up the success of his brother, Irad, who won the US Classic 12 months ago aboard Creator.
Irish War Cry and Ravij Maragh looked to have the race sewn up coming in to the stretch, having set a moderate pace for much of the 2,400-metre event. Tapwrit was given a ground-saving ride on the rail in third by Ortiz, and it made the difference in the final 150 metres as Tapwrit went on to give sire Tapit a third Belmont win in four years.
“Tapwrit was getting a beautiful trip,” Pletcher told reporters. “It was everything we talked about in the paddock before the race. We were hoping he had enough when it came to crunch time. It looked like Irish War Cry still had a little something left, but the last sixteenth, he dug down deep.”
It was the second time that Irish War Cry had faded from a prominent position, having been second in the stretch in the Kentucky Derby before fading in to 10th at Churchill Downs.
“It actually wasn’t our plan to be on the lead,” Motion, the Dubai World Cup-winning trainer, said.
“We kind of hoped that somebody else would go for it, but he had to go to Plan B and Rajiv did a great job. At the eighth pole I thought we might be home free, but it’s the Belmont. It’s a tough race.”
Epicharis will now fly back to Japan on Thursday after the UAE Derby runner-up was scratched on the day of the race in a pre-race veterinary exam.
Epicharis had been struggling to shrug off an issue with his front right foot, which had prevented him from training on Thursday and Friday.
A team of at least five vets examined the colt on the morning of the race.
It was reported that Epicharis was treated with Butazolidin on Wednesday, then another non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, Ketaprofen, on Thursday. Epicharis was listed as having “no treatment” on Friday.
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. We’d like to thank the team of veterinarians and staff for their hard work. We look forward to getting Epicharis home and back to the racetrack very soon.”
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