Real Quiet could smell the juiciest payday in racing history. But then, just when he had a foot in the door, the maitre d’, Victory Gallop, told him the kitchen was closed.
Stretch-running Victory Gallop nailed the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner at the finish line and won Saturday’s 130th Belmont by a nose.
The defeat cost Real Quiet the $5 million bonus jackpot that he would have earned had he become the 12th Triple Crown winner in thoroughbred racing history.
Instead, he became the 14th horse to lose the Belmont after winning the first two jewels of the Triple Crown.
Even if Real Quiet had crossed the finish line first he “probably” would have wound up second, according to a postrace statement from the racetrack’s stewards.
Racing on the inside, Real Quiet veered out twice and made contact with Victory Gallop. The collisions prompted Real Quiet’s jockey, Gary Stevens, to ask for a hold on the result, which meant he intended to object if he finished second. Meanwhile, the stewards already had decided to put up the inquiry sign and investigate the stretch episode.
But the photo-finish camera decided the outcome for the stewards.
“I felt we were going to win by a neck,” Stevens said. “The contact broke my colt’s momentum. I didn’t know if he had won or not.”
If the photo had showed Real Quiet as the winner, would the stewards have taken any action?
According to their statement, the contact “probably would have warranted a disqualification.”
“I don’t think my horse saw the other horse coming,” said Real Quiet’s jockey, Kent Desormeaux. “I was trying to help Real Quiet see the horse, and I pulled his head a little too far to the right. It was a desperation move. When the money is down you’ve got to do what you can.”
It was the closest Belmont finish since 1962, when Jaipur nosed out Admiral’s Voyage, and the crowd of 80,162 was the second-largest in Belmont Park history. The record of 82,694 was set in 1971 when Venezuelan invader Canonero II was thwarted in his quest for the Triple Crown.
Seeking to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978, Real Quiet was the 4-5 favorite of the betting public with Kentucky Derby and Preakness runner-up Victory Gallop the 4.50-1 second choice in the 11-horse race.
Last year Real Quiet’s trainer, Bob Baffert, and Stevens were Triple Crown collaborators, winning the Derby and Preakness with Silver Charm but finishing second behind Touch Gold in the Belmont.
This year they again were allied in the Kentucky Derby. Stevens rode the favorite, Indian Charlie, who was unable to cope with Real Quiet’s stretch move and finished third. When Baffert decided not to run Indian Charlie in the Preakness, Stevens became available, and Victory Gallop’s trainer, Elliott Walden, asked him to replace Alex Solis.
In the Derby, Victory Gallop’s late move left him a half-length behind Real Quiet, so in the Preakness it was decided to move in unison without him. The strategy didn’t work–Real Quiet won the stretch duel by 2 1/4 lengths.
This time Walden and Stevens agreed that they’d be better off holding back Victory Gallop until he hit the stretch. “We felt the main key to win the race was to let Real Quiet make his move, and not try to go with him,” explained Walden. “He has such a tremendous burst.
“We wanted to weather the storm, let him go ahead and exert the energy, and then see if we could pick up the pieces late. That’s exactly how it worked out.”
Real Quiet settled in the middle of the pack early in the 1 1/2-mile race, then moved up rapidly and took command with a little more than a quarter-mile to run. At this point, Victory Gallop was fifth after having spent the opening mile near the rear.
By the stretch call Real Quiet had a big lead, and at the eighth-pole the Triple Crown appeared to be his.
But Stevens had called on Victory Gallop and the Canadian-bred son of two-time Hawthorne Gold Cup winner Cryptoclearance was responding. Charging between horses on two occasions, he rushed into contending position. Then he caught Real Quiet, took the late hit and went on to win by the bob of a nose in 2 minutes 29 seconds.
Victory Gallop’s sixth victory of his 10-race career gave his Houston owners, the Preston brothers–Art, Jack and J.R.–the $600,000 winner’s share of the $1 million purse.
“We bought this horse (for a reported $500,000) last November and we hoped that he might develop into a good horse,” Walden said. “He has met and exceeded our expectations.”
