Exaggerator tests Belmont track; Swipe back from throat surgery
Leading Belmont S. (G1) contender Exaggerator got a feel for Belmont Park's main track on a rainy Monday morning, the Preakness (G1) winner's first excursion over the surface since his arrival from Pimlico Sunday afternoon.
Overseen at Belmont Park by Keith Desormeaux' assistant trainer Julie Clark, the probable favorite for the $1.5 million Belmont left Barn 29 during a welcome -- albeit brief -- respite from the rain shortly before the renovation break. Exaggerator walked through the paddock and grandstand tunnel to the main track and, with regular exercise rider Peedy Landry aboard, galloped an easy lap around the 1 1/2-mile oval.
"He was really good," Clark said. "The track is so big, it kind of looks like they're going slower than they are, but he went in a nice good pace. Not fast, not slow, just right in the middle. He seemed to handle it well. He came back barely blowing and then I passed him off to [his groom] Vic [Vargas] and made Vic walk him because he was a handful, like he always is."
Clark said she timed the son of Curlin in 20-second furlongs through much of the gallop before he gathered momentum through the final few furlongs.
"He went a couple in 18, 19 seconds," she said. "He picked it up towards the end but he was just off of a two-minute clip, which is what we like. We don't want him going too fast. It certainly was easy."
The dark bay colt is expected to return to the track Tuesday morning for light training and is tentatively slated to have his final breeze for the Belmont on either Saturday or Tuesday, said Clark.
"He's either going to gallop two [miles] or two-minute clip [a mile] tomorrow, Keith's waiting to make that decision," she said. "He might work on Saturday, or he may do a two-minute clip Saturday and breeze Tuesday. He's had a pretty easy week since the Preakness, plus Keith wanted to see how handled the track, especially going a little further."
Expected to face Exaggerator in the 148th running of the Belmont are Dale Romans trainees Brody's Cause and Cherry Wine, a pair from the Todd Pletcher barn in Destin and Stradivari, Peter Pan (G2) runner-up Governor Malibu, Arkansas Derby (G1) winner Creator and runner-up Suddenbreakingnews, and Japanese invader Lani.
Exaggerator, one of five horses who arrived for Desormeaux on Sunday, is joined at Belmont by Swipe, a four-time runner-up to Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Nyquist, including a late-closing second behind the eventual two-year-old champion in the 2015 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1).
"It was funny coming out of that race, everyone was still asking about Exaggerator [fourth in the Juvenile] and we had another one that finished even better," Clark joked. "He's always been a little under the radar, finishing second to Nyquist all the time. Now, I think people realize that that was such a tough horse to try to beat all the time."
The Birdstone colt will be based at Belmont while he prepares for another return to the races, having suffered breathing issues off a five-month layoff in his lone three-year-old start at Keeneland this spring, when he finished sixth in the Lexington (G3) on April 16.
"That's what happened in the Lexington," said Clark. "Keith thought he had heard a little something after the race and he got him checked out and got that problem addressed. He had some throat surgery and he walked for 30 days but he's been back to the track for about a week now and he's been great. He looks really good and feels good. I've always liked him, he's one of my favorites. I'm happy to have him back."
Swipe could return to the worktab as early as Saturday, which would be his first official breeze since April, although Clark adds that there is no time table for his comeback.
"Keith's looked at a whole bunch of things, but he's going to let the horse tell him," she said. "He doesn't want to rush him."
(Benoit Photos)
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