.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
Belmont Stakes cheat sheet: American Pharoah aims for the Triple Crown
The focus of sports fans across the world will shift to Belmont Park on June 6 for American Pharoah's bid to become only the 12th Triple Crown winner in the history of U.S. Thoroughbred racing in the $1.5-million Belmont Stakes on June 6.
We've compiled all of the information you need to know for the final leg of the 2015 Triple Crown in the cheat sheet below and we will continue to update with new information as it becomes available as well as post positions and morning-line odds when they become available.
American Pharoah
Jockey: Victor Espinoza
Trainer: Bob Baffert
Owner: Zayat Stables
Career Record: 7 starts - 6 wins, 0 seconds, 0 thirds
Career Earnings: $3,730,300
Earnings Per Start: $532,900
Pedigree: Pioneerof the Nile - Littleprincessemma, by Yankee Gentleman
Color: Bay
Running Style: Pacesetter/Presser
Notable Achievements and Interesting Facts: After finishing fifth in his career debut, American Pharoah won a pair of Grade 1 races in his next two starts and was voted 2014 champion 2-year-old male at the Eclipse Awards. The colt is a Zayat Stables homebred and was actually listed as a $300,000 sale yearling, but he was bought back by Zayat. His jockey, Victor Espinoza, has won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes in the same year three times - this year with American Pharoah, last year with California Chrome and with War Emblem in 2002. Unfortunately, Baffert's record isn't so good here - he's lost the Belmont the last three times he's had Triple Crown hopefuls with Silver Charm (1997), Real Quiet (1998) and War Emblem (2002). Can American Pharoah give Baffert his first sweep of the Triple Crown and break the 36-year drought? Find out on June 6.
Carpe Diem
Jockey: John Velazquez
Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Owner: WinStar Farm and Stonestreet Stable
Career Record: 6 starts - 4 wins, 1 second, 0 thirds
Career Earnings: $1,519,800
Earnings Per Start: $253,300
Pedigree: Giant's Causeway - Rebridled Dreams, by Unbridled's Song
Color: Chestnut
Running Style: Pacesetter/Stalker
Notable Achievements and Interesting Facts: Before ever competing in a race, Carpe Diem sold for $1.6-million at auction, so there have been high expectations for this colt from the start. Carpe Diem was riding a two-race winning streak heading into the Kentucky Derby and ended up finishing 10th. A Grade 1 winner as a 2-year-old and this year at three, Carpe Diem will attempt to join Union Rags (2012) and Palace Malice (2013) and become the third horse in four years to skip the Preakness after an unplaced finish in the Kentucky Derby and go on to win the Belmont Stakes.
Conquest Curlinate
Jockey: Shaun Bridgmohan
Trainer: Mark Casse
Owner: Conquest Stables
Career Record: 5 starts - 1 win, 2 seconds, 1 third
Career Earnings: $164,133
Earnings Per Start: $32,827
Pedigree: Curlin -- Higher World, by Peaks and Valleys
Color: Gray or Roan
Running Style: Closer
Notable Achievements and Interesting Facts: Conquest Curlinate's sire, Curlin, was a two-time Horse of the year who finished second in one of the most thrilling editions of the Belmont Stakes in 2007 when he came up just short to star filly Rags to Riches. He comes into the Belmont off of back-to-back runner-up finishes in graded stakes in the Illinois Derby and Peter Pan Stakes. He would become only the second Belmont Stakes bred in Canada, joining Victory Gallop in 1998.
Frammento
Jockey: Mike Smith
Trainer: Nick Zito
Owner: Mossarosa
Career Record: 8 starts - 1 win, 1 second, 1 third
Career Earnings: $139,700
Earnings Per Start: $17,463
Pedigree: Midshipman - Ginger Bay, by Golden Missile
Color: Chestnut
Running Style: Closer
Notable Achievements and Interesting Facts: If his fourth-place finish in the Blue Grass Stakes was an indication that he's getting better at the right time, his 11th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby showed he still has a lot of ground to make up on the elite 3-year-olds. Frammento is from the first crop of his sire, Midshipman, who earned success as a 2-year-old when winning the Del Mar Futurity and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile en route to an Eclipse Award as 2008 champion 2-year-old male. His trainer, Nick Zito, is in the Hall of Fame and has won the Belmont Stakes twice (Birdstone, 2004; Da' Tara, 2008).
Frosted
Jockey: Joel Rosario
Trainer: Kiaran McLaughlin
Owner: Godolphin Racing
Career Record: 8 starts - 2 wins, 4 seconds, 0 thirds
Career Earnings: $936,800
Earnings Per Start: $117,100
Pedigree: Tapit - Fast Cookie, by Deputy Minister
Color: Gray or Roan
Running Style: Stalker
Notable Achievements and Interesting Facts: Backed by the powerful team of Godolphin Racing and trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, Frosted comes into the Belmont Stakes off a fourth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. He's only finished off the board (not in the top three) twice in his career. His jockey Joel Rosario won last year's Belmont Stakes aboard Tonalist (California Chrome finished 4th). McLaughlin won the 2006 Belmont with Jazil.
Keen Ice
Jockey: TBD
Trainer: Dale Romans
Owner: Donegal Racing
Career Record: 8 starts - 1 win, 0 seconds, 2 thirds
Career Earnings: $160,395
Earnings Per Start: $20,049
Pedigree: Curlin - Medomak, by Awesome Again
Color: Bay
Running Style: Closer
Notable Achievements and Interesting Facts: His sire, Curlin, was a tremendous racehorse who won important races such as the Preakness, Breeders' Cup Classic and the Dubai World Cup en route to back-to-back Horse of the Year honors in 2007 and 2008. Owners Donegal Racing finished third in both the 2010 Kentucky Derby with Paddy O' Prado and the 2012 Kentucky Derby with Dullahan, both of whom also were trained by Dale Romans. Keen Ice finished third in the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes earlier this year and also ran third in the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes in 2014.
Madefromlucky
Jockey: TBD
Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Owner: Cheyenne Stables LLC and Nichol, Mac
Career Record: 8 starts - 3 wins, 2 seconds, 1 third
Career Earnings: $378,700
Earnings Per Start: $47,338
Pedigree: Lookin At Lucky - Home From Oz, by Pulpit
Color: Chestnut
Running Style: Stalker
Notable Achievements and Interesting Facts: Trainer Todd Pletcher has won the Belmont Stakes twice (Palace Malice, 2013; Rags to Riches, 2007). Madefromlucky enters the Belmont Stakes off a one-length win in the Grade 2 Peter Pan Stakes. Tonalist last year used the Peter Pan as a steppingstone to a win in the Belmont Stakes, but he was the first Peter Pan winner to take the Belmont since A.P. Indy in 1992. Madefromlucky's dam (mother), Home From Oz, is a full-sister (same dam, same sire) to leading sire Tapit.
Materiality
Jockey: Javier Castellano
Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Owner: Alto Racing
Career Record: 4 starts - 3 wins, 0 seconds, 0 thirds
Career Earnings: $656,028
Earnings Per Start: $164,007
Pedigree: Afleet Alex - Wildwood Flower, by Langfuhr
Color: Bay
Running Style: Pacesetter/Presser
Notable Achievements and Interesting Facts: Materiality entered the Kentucky Derby with an undefeated record, including a victory in the $1-million Besilu Stables Florida Derby and with the Apollo curse (no horse since Apollo in 1882 has won the Kentucky Derby without having raced as a 2-year old). Materiality's sire, Afleet Alex, found success in the 2005 Triple Crown by winning both the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes (Afleet Alex finished third in the Kentucky Derby). It could be argued that Materiality endured the worst Kentucky Derby trip and yet he still ran sixth.
Mubtaahij
Jockey: Irad Ortiz Jr.
Trainer: Mike de Kock
Owner: Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al Maktoum
Career Record: 8 starts - 4 wins, 1 second, 0 thirds
Career Earnings: $1,461,332
Earnings Per Start: $182,667
Pedigree: Dubawi - Pennegale, by Pennekamp
Color: Bay
Running Style: Stalker
Notable Achievements and Interesting Facts: After an eight-length win in the United Arab Emirates Derby at Meydan in Dubai, Mubtaahij flew to the United States for the biggest race of this life, the Kentucky Derby. He faded to eighth in the Kentucky Derby after briefly looking like a potential threat. His trainer, Mike de Kock, is one of the most accomplished horsemen on the planet. Mubtaahij could improve in his second start in North America after he had to change feeds and acclimate from a Desert climate of Dubai to the climate in the Midwest before the Kentucky Derby. He gets a new rider in Irad Ortiz Jr., who has familiarity with Belmont's 1½-mile main track.
Tale of Verve
Jockey: Gary Stevens
Trainer: Dallas Stewart
Owner: Charles Fipke
Career Record: 7 starts - 1 win, 2 seconds, 2 thirds
Career Earnings: $354,640
Earnings Per Start: $50,663
Pedigree: Tale of Ekati - Verve, by Unbridled
Color: Bay
Running Style: Closer
Notable Achievements and Interesting Facts: One of the Preakness new shooters, Tale of Verve was an also-eligible entrant for the Kentucky Derby. He did not make the field for the Derby but Tale of Verve ran an impressive second in the Preakness. His trainer, Dallas Stewart, knows a thing or two about running longshots in Triple Crown races. Stewart saddled consecutive Kentucky Derby second-place finishers in Golden Soul (2013) and Commanding Curve (2014) at odds of 34.50-to-1 and 37.80-to-1, respectively, and then Tale of Verve finished second in this year Preakness at 28.50-to-1.
War Story
Jockey: Colby Hernandez
Trainer: Tom Amoss
Owners: Looch Racing Stables, Glenn K. Ellis and Christopher T. Dunn
Career Record: 6 starts - 2 wins, 2 seconds, 1 third
Career Earnings: $243,600
Earnings Per Start: $40,600
Pedigree: Northern Afleet - Belle Watling, by Pulpit
Color: Chestnut
Running Style: Stalker/Closer
Notable Achievements and Interesting Facts: Part owner Ron Paolucci (Looch Racing Stables) told Daily Racing Form that War Story will not permit American Pharoah to get away with an easy lead in the Belmont Stakes and he expects the gelding to challenge for the early lead. That would be a change in style for War Story, who has never been closer than third after the first quarter-mile. In his top-three finishes in the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes, Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes and Grade 2 Louisiana Derby, War Story raced in sixth, seventh and sixth, respectively, in the early stages. A $51,000 purchase as a 2-year-old in training, part-owners Looch Racing and Chris Dunn purchased War Story privately after a 2 3/4-length debut win in November at Churchill Downs. Glenn Ellis joined the ownership group after War Story's runner-up finish in the Risen Star Stakes.
