Sunday, June 12, 2016
Just how strong was the Belmont Stakes day program? They bet $11,643,742 on track and another $87,211,857 off track for a total of $98,855,599. And that's without a Triple Crown possibility and without the Derby and Preakness winners facing off.
And as if they needed any further proof at Gainesway that Tapit is a breeding monster, it was etched in stone again yesterday. Digest this: Creator wins the Belmont Stakes and its $800,000 winner's share, and Lani runs on for third, good for $150,000. Frosted runs one of the greatest Met Miles ever and takes down $670,000; Anchor Down finishes second - add another $230,000. Just for kicks, A Lot is fourth in the Gr. III Jaipur and banks $18,000 and Cupid is fifth in the Easy Goer and collects $4,500.
That's a total of $1,872,500, as the son of Pulpit heads for another 'Leading Sire in North America' title. Tapit's stud fee for 2016 was $300,000. Could it be going higher?
Although Creator and Destin's photo finish was the highlight of the afternoon, what more can be said about Frosted's scintillating performance in the Met. It isn't often that a horse taking the lead at the top of the stretch has enough ground left to win by 14 1/4 lengths. He was overpowering, as his near-record 1:32.73 for the mile suggests.
Live Oak Plantation's World Approval has turned into a formidable turf runner, finishing a solid third after leading most of the way in the Gr. I Woodford Reserve Manhattan at a mile and a quarter. The 4-year-old Florida-bred gelded son of Northern Afleet now has $673,450 in the till for Charlotte Weber, and Julien Leparoux as his most frequent pilot.
(I loved it when it came time for Julien to announce himself on camera before the Belmont and he gave out with the old Le-paroux, as did Larry Collmus. But the TV dudes paid no heed, continuing to call him Lay-paroux or Leh-paroux. Hey, it's my own problem).
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