Exercise rider Jonny Garcia reunited with I’ll Have Another at Belmont Park
Doug O’Neill trained I’ll Have Another, who will be hoping to become the 12th horse in the history of American horseracing to win the Triple Crown, when he vies for the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes on 9 June, 2012, at Belmont Park.
The Flower Alley colt arrived at Belmont Park, the morning after winning the Grade 1, $1 million Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course on 19 May, 2012, and since then Humberto Gomez and Hector Ramos have been filling in as exercise riders for Jonny Garcia.
Jonny Garcia, after the Preakness Stakes win went to see his family in the time when he waited for his license to work as an exercise rider in the state of New York, but now he is reunited with I’ll Have Another and said the colt, despite winning two gruelling
races, still feels the same like he did before the Kentucky Derby.
The past four mornings, it was Humberto Gomez, who galloped I’ll Have Another, as Garcia said that there isn’t much difference between Churchill Downs, Pimlico and Belmont Park, just that the track at Belmont Park feels a little heavier than the rest.
Doug O’Neill welcomed Garcia in the staff, but said that he is grateful for both Gomez and Hector to fill in for Jonny Garcia when he was away.
"I'll Have Another has looked good every day here, but it's nice having Jonny back on him and having Jonny tell me how he feels so good, that he's handling the surface great and is stretching as good as ever," the trainer said. "He's been on him since Day
1. So that's definitely an added bonus to a great day."
I’ll Have Another will approach a non-traditional way of preparing for the Belmont Stakes, as oppose to drilling works, the J. Paul Reddam’s I’ll Have Another will gallop ahead of the Belmont Stakes, and on 29 May, 2012, he galloped 1 ½ miles over the Big
Sandy.
“He gallops strong," O'Neill said. "We're not too worried about the times, more so with how he's moving and switching leads out there.”
Tags: