While the headlines are focused on Ice Box and First Dude, second place finishers in the Derby and the Preakness respectively, Fly Down, owned by Richard Pell, is proving himself to be a strong betting choice for the Belmont Stakes.
Fly Down drew attention to himself with a 6 length win at Belmont Park in the Dwyer on May 8th. He then followed this up by working four furlongs in 49.40 seconds. The same day, Uptowncharlybrown, another contender in the Belmont Stakes ran that length in 50.16. Fly Down is trained by Nick Zito, who also is the trainer for favorite Ice Box.
Other horses had their first runs at Belmont on Sunday, May 24th. Make Music for Me, used to the synthetic tracks in California, worked a mile in a lackluster 1:43.03. On the surface this kind of time may be cause for concern, however this was the first run for Make Music for Me on the sandy Belmont track, and it was very humid that day, and it seemed like the track was roughly 2 seconds slower than normal. For comparison, Make my Music usually runs a mile in 1:37 at Hollywood Park in Southern California.
Drosselmeyer ran a similar time that day, working a mile in 1:43.95, again a disappointing time. However, Drosselmeyer was responsive to his rider and appeared to be doing very well visually.
Currently the Belmont field is at 10, with Drosselmeyer, First Dude, Fly Down, Game on Dude, Ice Box, Make Music for Me, Stately Victor, Stay Put, Spangled Banner and Uptowncharlybrown being the likely contenders. Garrett Gomez will be mounting Spangled Star, owned by Larry Roman. Gomez has ridden in 4 Belmont Stakes, but is currently winless.
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