Matz confident Union Rags will make the 1 ½ mile distance of the Belmont Stakes
Trainer Michael Matz only wants a clean trip from his 3-year-old colt, Union Rags, in the Grade 1, $1million Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park on 9 June, 2012. And the trainer has made some changes regarding that aspect, by replacing French jockey Julien Leparoux
with John Velazquez, who has been aboard the colt in his recent workout sessions.
In the Kentucky Derby, Union Rags got boxed for room, and never really had enough space with, and when the horse flesh detached from the colt, all he could see was Dullahan trying to keep up with I’ll Have Another and Bodemeister – in other words, it was
too late.
Finished seventh in the Derby, the colt skipped the Preakness Stakes, but with some well deserved rest and renewed training under his belt with a new jockey onboard, Union Rags will be a force to be reckoned with comes the Belmont Stakes day.
Another question looming over the dozen Belmont Stakes contenders is the marathon distance of 1 ½ miles the “Test of the Champion” has to offer, and none of them have ever run over that kind of a distance.
However, Michael Matz is confident that Union Rags will get some help from the colt’s pedigree on his mother’s side.
“His second and third dam were 1 ½-mile horses,” Matz said.
The progeny of the Phyllis M. Wyeth’s homebred Union Rags’ sire, Dixie Union was to go at best over 1 1/8 miles – which is also a considerable factor mixed with running 1.5 miles.
“They ran 1 ½ miles, and I think that’s where he gets the distance from. Dixie Union hasn’t produced anything over 1 1/8 miles, but I think on the female side, there’s a distance pedigree. He’s a big horse with a long stride; he covers the ground easy …
but we don’t know. Nobody knows. They’ll probably never run this distance again in their lives. It’s a big question mark.”
Michael Matz doesn’t blame Union Rags for losing his last two races, and says that he never got a clean trip and got too crammed up for space to really stretch his stride.
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