Ahira's Hangar

Well, a day of mud and upsets at Belmont.

In the filly race - the Acorn - the overwhelming favorite and multi-stakes winner Turbulent Descent came in second to a daughter of Mineshaft (and granddaughter of AP Indy) named It's Tricky.

In the Belmont the Derby winner Animal Kingdom had a horrible trip and was never really in a position to contend, after nearly falling at the start of the race. The Preakness winner Shackleford led most of the way but tired - he does not have the pedigree to run 1 1/2 miles but as always tried his damndest - a very honest colt. The winner was a gelding named Ruler on Ice. While his father was a miler and his damsire was a sprinter if you go back a couple of generations you will see that his grandsire was a Kentucky Derby winner and on his damsire side he comes down from Alydar and his female line (dam, dam's dam, grandam, etc.) are all stakes winners, so he comes from a strong female family.

The second place horse was Stay Thirsty, a son of Bernardini and grandson of AP Indy.

The third place horse was Brilliant Speed, a son of Dynaformer. He is not only well bred to go the distance (he has something like 12 Belmont winners or sires or dams of Belmont winner in just a few generations of his pedigree) but like Stay Thirsty, he is also bred to love an off track.

some potentially bad news for fans of Animal Kingdom:


The jockey who started the mess at the beginning of the Belmont has been suspended.

Remember how I was telling you that Canada had a very good filly named Inglorious who won this year's Woodbine Oaks? Well, this afternoon she won the Queen's Plate over fifteen colts in a very impressive fashion!

I hope they will bring her down for some of our filly races (or even colt races - I think she could hold her own against our American colts, too) and the Breeder's Cup this fall!

Inglorious might well be the best three year old of either sex in North America right now!