Trainer still amazed at Stakes win

Rags to Riches was the first filly in 102 years to win the race.

NEW YORK (AP) — The morning after the Belmont Stakes, Todd Pletcher was still enjoying his first victory in a Triple Crown race. At the same time, he was even more amazed at the way Rags to Riches made history with her stirring victory over Preakness winner Curlin.

The trainer’s magnificent filly became the first of her sex to capture the Belmont in 102 years and just the 10th to win a Triple Crown race.

“It’s still sinking in,” Pletcher said Sunday. “It’s kind of amazing when you look at the historical significance of it.”

The race was pretty exciting, too.

“It was impressive because of who she beat, the trip she got and nothing was handed to her,” Pletcher said. “She overcame some adversity and fought off a very good horse.”

Stumbled out of gate

Rages to Riches stumbled out of the gate but regained her balance and moved into position along the outside for what turned into a stirring stretchlong duel with Curlin at the end of the 11⁄2-mile Belmont.

It was the best 3-year-old filly against a rising star 3-year-old colt, eyeball-to-eyeball for a final quarter mile. Even the usually restrained Pletcher was cheering along with the Belmont Park crowd of 46,870.

Rags to Riches, with John Velazquez aboard, had her head in front, and Curlin, despite the urging of Robby Albarado, was unable to overcome the slight deficit although the gallant colt never quit trying.

“When she turned for home I thought we’re going to win,” Pletcher said. “But when he dug in at the eighth pole I thought, ‘Man, this would be an absolutely brutal loss to get nosed out here.’ He really stuck his nose down on the wire. He was getting all of the [head] bob. ... I knew we’d won, but it was close.”

Standing ovation

After the race, Velazquez led Rags to Riches on a victory walk past the grandstand, pointing to the filly with the crowd standing and applauding racing’s newest celebrity.

It was a fitting way to close a Triple Crown season that produced three exhilarating races, with Street Sense’s daring rail-hugging rally in the Kentucky Derby followed by Curlin’s final-stride, head victory over the Derby winner in the Preakness.

“We wound up probably getting the three best horses in the nation running and winning each of these races,” said trainer Bill Kaplan, whose Imawildandcrazyguy was fourth in the Derby and sixth in the Belmont. “The filly? She’s Horse of the Year. All she has to do is keep beating up on the rest of the fillies and she’s got it clinched.”

Pletcher, though, has not ruled out tangling with the boys this summer. Rags to Riches’ next start most likely will be against fillies in the Coaching Club American Oaks July 21 at Belmont. After that, her next start could come in the Alabama for fillies Aug. 18 or the Travers for colts Aug. 25, both at Saratoga.