A Wrap-up of the 2022 Belmont Stakes

As the gates were opened for the 2022 Belmont Stakes on a beautiful day in New York, We the People jumped out to grab the early lead. Nest, the only filly in the field, stumbled at the gate but recovered quickly while the late-running Kentucky Derby winner, Rich Strike, was last of them all by the quarter pole. We the People led for most of the race with Skippylongstocking pressuring him until the top of the stretch.

The 46,000 people in attendance at Belmont Park went wild for the final stretch as Mo Donegal, who finished fifth at the Kentucky Derby, came out in front at the top of the stretch. With We the People and Skippylongstocking fading, Mo Donegal raced ahead of his stablemate, Nest, down the straight. In the end, Mo Donegal, guided by Jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr., won the 154th running of the Belmont Stakes with a brisk time of 2:28.28. 

Stablemate Nest finished second with Skippylongstocking ending up in third, We the People fourth, and the Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike sixth in the 1 1/2 mile race. Rich Strike trailed for the bulk of the race, making up two spots in the backstretch, but failed to pass the front-runners to take a second race of the Triple Crown. 

With Rich Strike opting to skip the second leg of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes, there was no shot at 2022 producing a Triple Crown winner. However, the excitement for the Belmont Stakes was still palpable.

Champion Gone West stood stud in 1988 at Mill Ridge Farm.

The Triple Crown

Before the Kentucky Derby is run each spring, trainers, owners, and jockeys dream of a Triple Crown winner. 

The Triple Crown of horse racing is one of the sporting world’s most exciting and revered series and the Belmont Stakes is the third and final leg of the thoroughbred racing series. The Triple Crown is a series of horse races for three-year-old thoroughbreds, consisting of the Kentucky Derby (first held in 1875), Preakness Stakes (1873), and Belmont Stakes (1867). These races are held each year, and winning The Triple Crown is one of the most challenging achievements in sports. Fans who see a Kentucky Derby winner at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, hope they are witnessing history. Occasionally, the Derby winner comes out on top at the Preakness two weeks later at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. Rarely, history is made at the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in New York. 

Mo Donegal’s win marks the fourth year in a row that three different horses have won the three Triple Crown races, with Rich Strike having won the Derby and Early Voting taking the Preakness. The last time this happened in four consecutive years was between 1926 and 1929.

In 1919, Sir Barton became the first of 13 horses to win the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes. The term “Triple Crown” was coined to describe the sweep of all three races in the 1920s. Charles Hatton of the Daily Racing Form is often credited with popularizing it in the 1930s.

Belmont

While beating out a field of 19 other horses in the Kentucky Derby and turning around in two weeks to win again in the Preakness Stakes is no easy feat, the Belmont Stakes has earned the nickname of the “Test of the Champion” for many reasons. This mile-and-a-half race rounds out a grueling seven-week Triple Crown season at the longest track in North America. Nicknamed “Big Sandy” for the increase of sand in the track’s surface, Belmont has a deeper racetrack than most horses are used to racing on. The pure stamina, adjustability, and talent required by the horses, trainers, and jockeys required to win this race make it a true test of a champion. 

Even though The Kentucky Derby is often thought to have the bulk of the pomp and circumstance in horse racing, Belmont has its own traditions. As the horses walk out onto the track, Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” plays and the winner not only receives a share of the $1.5 million purse but also a blanket of white carnations.

The Triple Crown consists of three races: The Kentucky Derby, The Preakness, and The Belmont Stakes.

Commendable

Mill Ridge is passionate about breeding thoroughbred stallions and has established a winning tradition. Mill Ridge has managed and promoted the breeding and racing careers of many champion lines including the sire Gone West, sire of 101 stakes winners, who joined the stallion roster in 1988. 

Future Belmont winner, Commendable, was sired by Gone West and out of the mare Bought Twice and was bred by Edward, Gregory, and Michael Kelly. Commendable was foaled April 13, 1997, and sold to Robert and Beverly Lewis in 1998 for $575,000 at the Keeneland July yearling sale. Commendable was put into training with  D. Wayne Lukas, who won the Kentucky Oaks this year with Secret Oath. 

At Belmont, Commendable sat just behind Hugh Hefner from the gate and stayed in this position for the majority of the race. Commendable gained the lead in the stretch and held off race-favorite Aptitude in the final furlong to win the 2000 Belmont Stakes.  

Commendable retired to stud in 2001 at Mill Ridge, where he stood for four seasons.   

The Mill Ridge Way

Mill Ridge Farm raises winning racehorses and has a long track history of success.  Mill Ridge believes that the success of the clients that they assist in boarding, raising, and representation defines their own success. “The Mill Ridge Way” has created many success stories, raising or selling 36 Grade 1 winners since 2000. 

Mill Ridge Farm has nurtured racehorses on the same land for generations. Hal Price Headley saw the potential for horses in the fertile land that Mill Ridge, previously Beaumont Farm, sits on to this day. This land provides the foundation for horses to thrive through its nutritive soils and grasses and the room for horses to have ample turnout in the leg-strengthening hills. The team and the farm continue to produce results with strong and healthy racehorses. 

A horse-first philosophy has been one of their guiding principles and continues today in their treatment of each horse. They allow their horses room to roam the open rolling hills and take care of their horses, knowing that the rest will take care of itself. The tradition continues, and Mill Ridge looks forward to the next generation of winning thoroughbreds. Today, Oscar Performance continues as a stallion, fostering a new wave of winners for Mill Ridge and the owners of his offspring.    

Interested in learning more about broodmares, foals, weanlings, and two-year-olds? Want to see how they are raised for yourself? Schedule a tour of Mill Ridge Farm today through Visit Horse Country.