With Arcangelo, Jena Antonucci makes history as first woman to train Triple Crown race winner

History was made Saturday night at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York.

Jena Antonucci became the first woman to train the winner of a Triple Crown race as Arcangelo held on in the stretch to win the 155th running of the Belmont Stakes at 1.5 miles on the dirt track.

Ridden by Javier Castellano — who was also aboard Kentucky Derby winner Mage — Arcangelo is a son of Arrogate who collected his third win of 2023.

Arcangelo was one of four horses making his Triple Crown debut in the Belmont Stakes. He went off at 7-1 odds.

Arcangelo’s winning move came with a little bit less than 3 furlongs to go, when a rail ride from Castellano guided the horse to the lead past National Treasure, the Preakness Stakes winner.

Arcangelo settled into that lead in the stretch and never gave it up, prevailing by 1.5 lengths in a final time of 2:29.23 in front of 48,089 fans.

“Never give up, and if you can’t find a seat at the table, make your own table,” Antonucci, 47, said in a postrace interview with Fox about her history-making achievement. “Build your team, and never give up. You are seen. People see you. Just keep working your butt off.”

Antonucci is the 11th woman to saddle a horse in the Belmont Stakes, and the first to emerge as a winner.

Arcangelo wasn’t initially nominated to race in any of the three Triple Crown events this year: His ownership had to pay a $50,000 supplemental fee for him to be able to race in the Belmont.

“I will forever be indebted to (Arcangelo’s) honesty to us, his heart and he is why you get up seven days a week,” Antonucci said during the postrace press conference. “I didn’t get a lot of sleep the last few nights, I’m not going to lie. I’m so grateful.”

Race favorite Forte — the champion 2-year-old who went off at 2-1 odds and was making his long-awaited Triple Crown debut — finished second by a nose ahead of Bluegrass Stakes winner Tapit Trice in third.

Fourth place was a dead heat with Angel of Empire and Hit Show.

All four of these horses closed strong, but none truly threatened Arcangelo for the race win.

A $1 Trifecta with Arcangelo, Forte and Tapit Trice paid $133.24, while there were two Superfecta payouts because of the dead heat for fourth place.

A $1 Superfecta with Hit Show paid $292.50, and a $1 Superfecta with Angel of Empire paid $191.50.

The Belmont Stakes began with National Treasure settling into the lead during the early stages, before the Bob Baffert-trained horse grew his advantage to a length on the backstretch.

National Treasure took that lead into the far turn, while Forte remained a few lengths behind but boxed into the middle of the pack by other horses in the field of nine.

After the turn for home, Arcangelo glided to the lead with his move on the rail and held on the rest of the way, despite a hot pursuit from the likes of Forte and Tapit Trice in the closing moments.

“We knew we wanted to get a little jump on them,” Antonucci said. “We weren’t even worried about the distance. His cruising speed is just stupid, stupid fast.”

Arcangelo enjoyed previous success at Belmont Park prior to Saturday: His last race was a victory at Belmont in the Grade 3 Peter Pan Stakes.

Arcangelo is the first winner of the Peter Pan Stakes to also go on and win the Belmont Stakes since Tonalist (2014).

Arcangelo now holds a career record of 3-1-0 in five career starts. He is a graduate of Keeneland’s 2021 September Yearling Sale.

Cody’s Wish remains perfect at a mile

One of the standout moments from Saturday’s undercard action at Belmont Park was yet another dominant win by Cody’s Wish, trained by Bill Mott, ridden by Junior Alvarado and with a sentimental story that has far surpassed just horse racing circles.

Cody’s Wish — who romped to victory in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap — has now won six straight races, including the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and a pair of undercard races prior to both the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes.

The horse is also now a perfect 7-for-7 in races run at a mile.

The namesake of Cody’s Wish — who is a son of the legendary Curlin — is a young man named Cody Dorman, who was born with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome, a rare chromosomal disorder that affects many parts of his body.

Dorman can’t walk or speak verbally, but he can communicate via a tablet. Dorman befriended Cody’s Wish when the horse was a foal.

The horse has become a sentimental selection for bettors and horse racing aficionados ever since this story came to light, but make no mistake either: Cody’s Wish is an elite performer.

After winning as the overwhelming 3-5 post-time favorite on Saturday, Cody’s Wish has a career record of 9-1-3 in 13 career starts, having never finished out of the money in a race.

Belmont Stakes goes ahead despite air quality concerns

Due to poor air quality in New York as the result of wildfires in Canada, running the Belmont Stakes on schedule was briefly in doubt.

On Thursday, racing at Belmont Park was canceled because of the poor air quality, but conditions improved to allow live racing to resume at the track Friday.

The New York Racing Association (NYRA) announced it would actively monitor air-quality conditions and forecasts to make sure conditions were safe for both race participants and fans in the lead-up to Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, but from Friday onward, all races were run as scheduled.

A twilight racing program that was set to serve as a kickoff event for the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival was canceled.

Saturday’s Belmont Stakes day card at Belmont Park generated an all-sources handle of $118,283,455, which established a new NYRA record for a non-Triple Crown year.

On-track horse death occurs at Belmont Park

The final race Saturday night at Belmont Park was marred by the on-track death of a horse named Excursionniste.

The horse — trained by Mark Hennig and ridden by Flavien Prat — was pulled up midway through the far turn during an allowance turf race.

The injuries suffered by Excursionniste were deemed catastrophic and the horse was euthanized on the Belmont Park turf course.

Prat didn’t suffer any injuries during the incident.

The death of Excursionniste — who led at the quarter-mile pole before suffering the catastrophic injury — means a horse died this year at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby day, at Pimlico Race Course on Preakness Stakes day and at Belmont Park on Belmont Stakes day.

Belmont Stakes brings end to 2023 Triple Crown season

Saturday night’s running of the Belmont Stakes brought an end to horse racing’s 2023 Triple Crown season.

Obviously, there was no Triple Crown winner this year, which means that Justify (2018) remains the last horse to win each of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes.

Here’s a recap of the winning horses, trainers and jockeys from this year’s Triple Crown races.

Kentucky Derby:

▪ Mage (Gustavo Delgado, Javier Castellano).

Lightly raced Mage delivered his Venezuelan connections — namely trainer Gustavo Delgado and jockey Javier Castellano — a surprise Kentucky Derby win at 15-1 odds.

It also completed the final piece of Castellano’s career résumé: Prior to this year’s mount aboard Mage, Castellano was 0-for-15 in his previous Derby rides.

Preakness Stakes:

▪ National Treasure (Bob Baffert, John Velazquez).

Bob Baffert claimed his record eighth victory in the Preakness Stakes on what was an emotional day for the embattled trainer: One of his other horses, Havnameltdown, suffered a catastrophic injury during an undercard race on Preakness Day.

The field of seven horses in the Preakness marked the fewest horses to contest the race since 1986.

Of the 23 horses that entered the Kentucky Derby, only one — the winner Mage — also ran in the Preakness Stakes. Mage finished third.

Belmont Stakes:

▪ Arcangelo (Jena Antonucci, Javier Castellano).

Jena Antonucci is the first woman to train a Triple Crown race-winning horse.

Javier Castellano finishes this Triple Crown season as the winning jockey in both the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes. Castellano was previously 0-for-29 in both races combined.

“To win two Triple Crown races in the same year, it’s amazing,” Castellano said Saturday night. “Everything worked out good. There’s always something to shoot for, but I’m just going to keep working hard. But this is so special.”