Light exercise for I’ll Have Another at Belmont Park
Exercise rider Hector Ramos took the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes winner, I’ll Have Another, to the track for the first time since defeating, Bodemeister at Pimlico to claim the middle jewel of the Triple Crown.
J. Paul Reddam's I’ll Have Another jogged over the 1 ½ mile long main Belmont Park track in preparation for his bid to become the 12th horse in 34 years since Affirmed in 1978, to win the Triple Crown.
"We took him to the track and jogged him once around, and he looked absolutely super," said Jack Sisterson, assistant to trainer Doug O'Neill. "The way he looked was everything and more I'd want to see in him. Energy level was high, got over the ground well, ate up everything last night. Just looks super.
"He came out of the Derby in the exact same shape, and came out of the Preakness, if not the same, probably better."
Jack Sisterson, the assistant trainer is looking after the colt in Doug O’Neill’s absence, who according to Sisterson will arrive in New York sometime this weekend.
The Kentucky bred Flower Alley colt has been undefeated in his last four starts, sweeping fields after fields to be where he is right now. Sisterson did admit that the Preakness Stakes victory hasn’t quite sunk in yet.
I’ll Have Another came out of the jog fine, and Sisterson says that there is every reason to get him out on the track again tomorrow, leading up to the 144th running of the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes on 9 June, 2012.
It is amazing how I’ll Have Another has kept his energy levels so high after defeating a monster like Bodemeister in two back to back races. All of this speaks volumes of what this colt can achieve in his future races, and after bagging the first two legs of the Triple Crown, it won’t be wise to go against him when he has ruled Bodemeister out of the third and the final Triple Crown race.
Though, Dullahan, Union Rags have been thrown in the mix, maybe they can do what Bodemeister failed to do.
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