Michael Matz wastes no time in charting out a second half campaign for his Belmont Stakes winner
Trainer Michael Matz isn’t letting the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes win hindering his future plans for his super colt, Union Rags, who finally showed the world what he is really made of after a disappointing seventh place finish in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby at
Churchill Downs on 5 May, 2012.
Morning after winning the Belmont Stakes, the son of Dixie Union got shipped back to Fair Hill, where he trained for the Belmont Stakes since his disappointing run at Churchill Downs.
Michael Matz didn’t waste much time to chart out Union Rags’ future plans, as he looked carefully at the races his colt could participate in the second half of the campaign.
As a juvenile, Union Rags won the Grade 2 Chimneys Saratoga Special, when he got the best of, Stat, in the stretch as Indian Evening finished third on the day at the Saratoga Race Course, and that is where Union Rags might be headed for his second half of
the campaign.
“At this point right now I think what we’ll do is look at some of those, whether it’s the Haskell (gr. I at Monmouth Park), the Jim Dandy (gr. II), the Travers (gr. I), whatever, one of those races down the line with a little time in between,” he said.
Matz would have to plan out a perfect trip for Union Rags, leading up to the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita Park, where he will have to choose a race wisely, so he can win the Eclipse Award for Union Rags, which he thinks he missed out last year.
The veteran conditioner was baffled by the last year’s decision on the 2yo champ, when Hansen was given the award over Union Rags, after the Michael Maker trained colt trumped Union Rags in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
“It all depends on how we finish the season,” he said. “They ran one time against each other and that was it. He was very impressive in those two races he ran with Bodemeister. Again, I was so confused with the voting last year as a 2-year-old (when Union
Rags was second to Hansen), who knows what can go on?”
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