Kentucky Derby exacta of Mystik Dan, Sierra Leone get rematch in Belmont Stakes

Jun 03, 2024 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com

Mystik Dan (rail) reaches the wire before Sierra Leone (outside) and Forever Young (middle) (Photo by Rickelle Nelson/Horsephotos.com)

Mystik Dan and Sierra Leone, separated by a nose in a Kentucky Derby (G1) thriller, square off again in Saturday’s $2 million Belmont S. (G1). Seize the Grey, who beat Mystik Dan in the Preakness (G1), also joins the 10-strong field for the third jewel of the Triple Crown.

Normally, discussion of the Belmont focuses on which contenders would be best suited to 1 1/2 miles. But that doesn’t apply this year. Belmont Park is currently undergoing a massive redevelopment project, so the entire Belmont Stakes Racing Festival has been transferred upstate to Saratoga.

As a result of the change of venue, the Belmont has been shortened to 1 1/4 miles, the same distance as the Kentucky Derby. A total of five competitors from the Derby will renew rivalry in the Belmont, with Resilience (sixth), Honor Marie (eighth), and Dornoch (10th) hoping for better luck at Saratoga than they had at Churchill Downs.

Mystik Dan is the only combatant to take part in all three classics. Wheeling back two weeks after his game score in the Derby, the Kenny McPeek colt could not catch front-running Seize the Grey in the Preakness. Mystik Dan is likely to get a more contested pace set-up in the Belmont.

That race shape would also play right into the hands of strong closer Sierra Leone, who has been installed as the 9-5 favorite on the Belmont morning line. The Chad Brown trainee won the Risen Star (G2) and Blue Grass (G1) before coming up inches short in the Derby. His habit of lugging in cost him valuable momentum last time. A rider change to Flavien Prat, and a new type of bit, should help Sierra Leone to stay straight here.

Honor Marie is another with a potent late kick, only he didn’t get to use it optimally after a rough Derby trip. He also picks up a new rider, Florent Geroux, following an injury to jockey Ben Curtis. The winner of last fall’s Kentucky Jockey Club (G2), Honor Marie was a close second in the Louisiana Derby (G2).

Wood Memorial (G2) hero Resilience had a fairer chance in the Derby, but might have moved a bit early into the teeth of the pace and tired in the stretch. Trainer Bill Mott initially thought he just didn’t see out the 1 1/4-mile distance, then decided it was worth giving him another opportunity.

Dornoch, whose early speed was decisive in the Remsen (G2) (edging Sierra Leone) and Fountain of Youth (G2), never got to use it once checked and shuffled on the rail at Churchill. The full brother to last year’s Derby star, Mage, figures to be a key pace factor at the Spa.

Ironically, Dornoch was second to Seize the Grey in a maiden here last summer. Seize the Grey went wire to wire in the slop that day, in a foreshadowing of his Preakness performance.

Seize the Grey gave legendary trainer D. Wayne Lukas his seventh Preakness win. At the age of 88, he also became the oldest trainer to win a Triple Crown race. Now Seize the Grey will try to become Lukas’s fifth Belmont winner.

Trainer Todd Pletcher, likewise going for his fifth Belmont score, has three newcomers to the Triple Crown scene – Mindframe, Antiquarian, and Protective.

Undefeated Mindframe is taking the biggest class test, since he has yet to face stakes company. But the exciting colt has run away with both of his starts so far, drawing off by 13 3/4 lengths in his Gulfstream Park debut and by 7 1/2 lengths in a Churchill Downs allowance on Derby Day.

Stablemates Antiquarian and Protective had tried the Derby trail. While Antiquarian finished sixth in the Louisiana Derby, Protective was a late-running third in the Wood Memorial as a maiden. Antiquarian took a step forward to win New York’s traditional prep for the Belmont, the Peter Pan (G3), where Protective ran evenly in third.

Peter Pan runner-up The Wine Steward has been stuck on second in his past three, having taken that spot in the Breeders’ Futurity (G1) and Lexington (G3) as well. But his last victory came at Saratoga, in the Aug. 27 Funny Cide S. for New York-breds.

The Belmont is slated as the 12th race on Saturday, with a post time of 6:41 p.m. (ET), and you can wager at TwinSpires.com.

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