Essential Quality won the 153rd running of the Belmont Stakes on Saturday in Elmont, New York, closing out the last of the Triple Crown contests for the year.
Essential Quality, whose trainer was Brad Cox and whose jockey was Luis Saez, was considered a favorite in the race, with morning line odds of 2-1.
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“This was the race that I wanted to win. … I was giving thanks to the Lord,” Saez said of his win.
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Cox called the race “exciting,” adding that the race’s fast pace “benefited our horse.”
“He ran a tremendous race on the lead,” he added.
The 2021 Triple Crown races were marked by controversy. Medina Spirit, who was originally declared the winner of the Kentucky Derby in May, will likely be disqualified after the horse twice failed drug tests.
If Medina Spirit is disqualified, Amr Zedan, the horse’s owner, would need to forfeit his nearly $2 million first-place check, and Mandaloun, the second-place finisher, would be declared the winner. Payouts from bets would not be retroactively adjusted.
After Bob Baffert, Medina Spirit’s trainer, denied wrongdoing and said he was falling victim to “cancel culture,” he later acknowledged treating Medina Spirit for a rash by using an antifungal ointment but maintained he didn’t realize the treatment contained betamethasone.
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Rombauer won the Preakness Stakes, the second of the three Triple Crown races, on May 15, denying 2021 a Triple Crown winner.
