Sean O'Shea


Sean O'Shea by Sean O'Shea

Belmont Stakes can go to Irish challenger Master of Hounds with Santiva second -Final leg of Triple Crown takes place at Belmont Park

Posted on Friday, June 10, 2011 at 10:50 PM

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Two Irish connected horses face the starter in tomorrow's Belmont Stakes and a one - two is not out of the question.

The final leg of the Triple Crown will go off at Belmont park in New York shortly after six o'clock

Santiva is trained by Waterford born Eddie Kenneally and his sixth place finish in the Kentucky Derby after an interrupted preparation makes him a horse to reckon with.

Master of Hounds, (pictured above) starting from the one hole, is trained by maestro Aidan O'Brien in County Tipperary and ran fifth in the Kentucky Derby, just ahead of Santiva.

He closed into a very slow pace, and at one point was way off the pace in 15th place.
Jockey Garret Gomez sticks with Master of Hounds, a very significant move by arguably the best jockey in America.

Santiva's trainer, Kenneally, is very confident he has a fit and fresh horse,having skipped the Preakness Stakes where Shackleford ended any hope of a Triple Crown for Derby winner Animal Kingdom when holding off his late charge.

Shackleford will go to the front again in the Belmont and will play catch me if you can. I expect Master of Hounds to be closer to the pace this time and if he can avoid being pinned down on the inside form his inside draw, then he can make the last and most effective challenge.

Santiva will be coming late too and an Irish-one two is not out of the question, but if you want to just choose one then Master of Hounds might upset the applecart at odds around 10/1.


3 Comments

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The statistics show that even the "experts" haven't been very successful over the past 30 yrs. in predicting the winners of the K. Derby, Belmont Stakes, and the Preakness. It's anyone's educated guess as to how each horse and jockey is going to perform in any race. "Sucker bet" is a good way to describe it when one puts their money down.
I was born and raised in SARATOGA.... Playing the ponys is a SUCKER BET
I grew up within walking distance of the Belmont race track and went to several races. Now, however, I know more about horse racing. A few years back, one champion horse was pushed too hard and paid the price with a broken leg and euthanasia. I read criticism that the trainer had made that horse run in a race earlier with not enough time to recover between races. This is all for making money, you know. Love is about how you watch out for the welfare of an animal, and you don't push animals so that you can make money from them if you love them. My mother's uncle had many race horses so I guess you could say it was in our family, but I do not believe it is right to: Breed many horses for racing and let the losers, the ones who don't come up to snuff early on, get sold, sometimes to people who send them to Mexican or Canadian slaughterhouses. When you watch the K. Derby or the Belmont Stakes you hear all of this noble sounding music and videos about the trainers and the noble horses, but nothing is mentioned about horses whose very lives are at risk of they are injured on the track or just not "good enough" and candidates for a slaughterhouse. I think that horse racing should be banned.
 




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