FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 2019 BELMONT HAS ALWAYS THURSDAY’S TRACKSIDE BELMONT STAKES 151 REPORT BEEN THE GOAL FOR LOWS by Steve Sherack ELMONT, NY--With the star-studded GI Belmont Stakes card WITH INTREPID HEART right around the corner, the main track was in terrific shape for training hours early Thursday morning despite receiving a soaking from heavy overnight rains. Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, sporting a New York Yankees cap, got a feel for the track walking the freshly harrowed surface, labeled “good,” under a dense cloud cover and extremely humid conditions just after 6 a.m. Mark Casse watched a set train from the rail, including the GI Longines Just A Game S.-bound Got Stormy (Get Stormy), and began contemplating whether or not to send his Belmont S. duo of War of Will (War Front) and Sir Winston (Awesome Again) out a little earlier than usual due to the sticky, summer-like conditions. Cont. p5 IN TDN EUROPE TODAY Intrepid Heart | Coady HOW DUBAWI HAS HELPED EASE THE BLUES By Christie DeBernardis Dubawi reached a major milestone this week, and Emma ELMONT, NY--It is not often in racing, or with horses in Berry looks back at the legacy of the Darley stallion. general, that things go exactly according to plan, but Intrepid Click or tap here to go straight to TDN Europe. Heart (Tapit) is one of the rare exceptions. When Robert and Lawana Low purchased the $750,000 colt as a 2-year-old at OBS April with the help of bloodstock agent Jacob West, they did so with Saturday’s GI Belmont S. in mind. The gray’s sire Tapit is responsible for three Belmont winners in Tonalist, Creator and Tapwrit. His dam is by Touch Gold, a Belmont winner himself, and his half-brother Commissioner (A.P. Indy) finished just a head behind the aforementioned Tonalist in the 2014 Test of a Champion. “We really admired his breeding,” said Robert Low. “Being a Tapit out of a Touch Gold mare, he has Belmont written all over his pedigree. With him kind of coming to hand late, it was too late for the [GI Kentucky] Derby and [GI] Preakness, but perfect for the Belmont. We have been thinking Belmont from the day we bought him. Todd Pletcher guaranteed us the win.” The owner of the trucking company Prime Inc. paused a moment and laughed, “I thought I'd get a chuckle out of you with that. None of these horses come with any guarantee, but we did talk about the Belmont when we bought him. Actually, [Pletcher] did say something like that, but I think it was in jest.” Cont. p3 PUBLISHER & CEO Sue Morris Finley @suefinley [email protected] V.P., INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS Gary King @garykingTDN [email protected] EDITORIAL [email protected] Editor-in-Chief Jessica Martini @JessMartiniTDN Managing Editor Friday, June 7, 2019 Alan Carasso @EquinealTDN Senior Editor Steve Sherack @SteveSherackTDN Racing Editor Brian DiDonato @BDiDonatoTDN News and Features Editor Ben Massam @BMassamTDN Associate Editors Christie DeBernardis @CDeBernardisTDN Joe Bianca @JBiancaTDN ADVERTISING [email protected] Director of Advertising Alycia Borer Advertising Manager Lia Best Advertising Designer Amanda Crelin Advertising Assistants Alexa Reisfield Amie Morosco Advertising Assistant/Dir. Of Distribution Rachel McCaffrey Photographer/Photo Editor Calumet Farm's Everfast (Take Charge Indy) and Jose Cuevas stop for a visit with Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew . | Sarah Andrew [email protected] the press on Thursday morning at Belmont Park Social Media Strategist Justina Severni DISTORTED HUMOR COLT FASTEST AT OBS 11 Director of Customer Service A colt by Distorted Humor ran a furlong in :9 4/5 to Vicki Forbes pace breezes at Thursday’s OBS June under-tack show. [email protected] Marketing Manager NEWSPAPEROFRECORD UPSET ‘AGAIN’ 12 Alayna Cullen @AlaynaCullen For the second straight race, ‘TDN Rising Star’ Newspaperofrecord (Lope de Vega {Ire}) had a clear Director of Information Technology stretch lead as a big favorite and gave it up, this time Ray Villa [email protected] in the GIII Wonder Again S. at Belmont. Bookkeeper Terry May TODAY’S GRADED STAKES [email protected] EST Race Click for TV 2:10p Ballyogan S.-G3, LEP -------------- TVG WORLDWIDE INFORMATION 2:58p Bed O’ Roses Invitational S.-GIII, BEL TJCIS PPs TVG International Editor Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN 4:42p True North S.-GII, BEL TJCIS PPs TVG [email protected] 5:15p New York S.-GII, BEL TJCIS PPs NBCSN European Editor 5:48p Belmont Gold Cup Invitational S.-GIII, BEL TJCIS PPs NBCSN Emma Berry [email protected] Associate International Editor Heather Anderson @HLAndersonTDN Newmarket Bureau, Cafe Racing Sean Cronin & Tom Frary [email protected] 60 Broad Street, Suite 100 Red Bank, NJ 07701 732-747-8060 | 732-747-8955 (fax) www.TheTDN.com TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 3 OF 17 • THETDN.COM FRIDAY • JUNE 7, 2019 Belmont Always the Plan for Intrepid Heart cont. from p1 Intrepid Heart proved he was special right from the start, graduating by 7 3/4 lengths at first asking at Oaklawn Feb. 18 and earning the ‘TDN Rising Star’ nod. He followed suit with a wide-trip Keeneland optional claimer win Apr. 5 and finished third last time as the favorite in Belmont’s GIII Peter Pan S. May 11 after stumbling at the start. Robert & Lawana Low with Magnum Moon | Coady “He stumbled out of the gate and kind of chased a pretty fast pace, running up within two or three lengths of the pace,” Low said. “It just set that race up in a way that is not suited to what he wants to do. After the wire, he galloped out very strongly in front of everybody. It just wasn't a good setup with the poor start and the fast pace. If we had to do it over again, and you could predict how these things are going to come out, you might do it differently. But, we all thought it was a fairly good race considering the situation. He gave us hope.” Intrepid Heart will be piloted by Hall of Famer John Velazquez Saturday. Pletcher and Velazquez each have two Belmont wins to their credit, including one as a team with Rags to Riches. “Johnny V rode Capote Belle to our first Grade I win in the Test,” Low said. “We love Johnny. We are very fortunate to have this trainer/jockey combo.” The Lows got hooked on racing early on in their career as owners thanks to Capote Belle, who won the Test in their first year in the business in 1996. “We got hooked early on,” said Low, who lives on a farm in Primatara, Missouri, with his wife and their band of 14 broodmares. “One of the first fillies we bought named Capote Belle won the GI Test S. at Saratoga, so we were hooked for life after that. We had to wait for that next Grade I for a long time, but we have had some good horses and really enjoy the game and enjoy being on the farm with the mares and babies.” Cont. p4 3 G1 WINNERS 3 CONSECUTIVE CROPS PAOLA QUEEN WEST COAST MITOLE TEST S. [G1] CHAMPION CHURCHILL 2013 2015 2014 TRAVERS S. [G1] DOWNS S. [G1] PENNSYLVANIA DERBY [G1] When your horses are on our farm, they’re also on our minds. hermitagefarm.com 502.228.1426 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 17 • THETDN.COM FRIDAY • JUNE 7, 2019 That second top-level score came just last year courtesy of “She just kind of got sucked in, but she was a country gal and it ‘TDN Rising Star’ Magnum Moon (Malibu Moon) in the GI kind of came naturally to her,” said Low. “She loves it, probably Arkansas Derby, which was extra special to Low as he grew up more than I do.” going to Oaklawn Park. When the Lows first got into racing, back in the Capote Belle “We are in Missouri and always went to the races at Oaklawn days, they started with a trainer who, coincidentally, had a Park,” said Low. “Winning the Arkansas Derby is right up there, relative working in their company. for us with winning the Kentucky Derby. It was very exciting for “We started with a young guy from down there named Danny us. He also won the [GII] Rebel up there. He is just a really nice Peitz. I am in the trucking business and his brother worked in horse. He is a fast horse and, it turns out, a very courageous the parts department in our shop, so we just kind of made a horse. You may recall, he had a broken leg, a very bad injury, connection,” said Low. “We were with Danny for several years. and he is still recovering from it. He is at the Cornell [Ruffian] In the last four or five years, we have spread around a little bit Clinic at Belmont.” more. We got hooked up with Todd Pletcher through Jacob In addition to his time spent at Oaklawn Park, Low grew up West. Todd has most of our store-bought horses. Our around horses and always dreamed of one day owning a homebreds still go primarily to Danny and Steve Margolis.” racehorse. The Lows have come a long way in the past 23 years and have “I was a farm kid,” said Low, who has 14 horses in training and had quite a bit of success, but a win in the Belmont would be a 11 2-year-olds in the pipeline. “My mom and dad went to dream come true. Oaklawn Park to the races.