Frowning achievement

Chrome’s owner rants after Tonalist ends bid for Crown

California Chrome, far left, runs near Tonalist (11) and Medal Count (1) down the stretch in the Belmont Stakes horse race, Saturday, June 7, 2014, in Elmont, N.Y. Commisioner is at right and General a Rod (10) and Samraat are at rear.
California Chrome, far left, runs near Tonalist (11) and Medal Count (1) down the stretch in the Belmont Stakes horse race, Saturday, June 7, 2014, in Elmont, N.Y. Commisioner is at right and General a Rod (10) and Samraat are at rear.

ELMONT, N.Y. -- Those souvenir $2 tickets on California Chrome bought Saturday are as worthless today as Confederate money.

Betting slips that would have been worth just less than twice their $2 purchase price if redeemable underwent severe devaluation just the same after the latest Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner stubbed his toe in the Belmont Stakes.

"Start spreading the blues," tweeted Daily Racing Form national correspondent Jay Privman, a play on words to the opening line of "New York, New York," sung before the race by Frank Sinatra Jr., whose late father made the tune famous.

Tonalist, on the other hand, who became a wise-guy horse after a last-out stakes victory over the track, joined the growing list of Triple Crown spoilers. The Tapit colt beat Commissioner, the sixth-place finisher in the Arkansas Derby, by a head after a mile and a half in 2:28.52, reprising their exacta finish of the May 10 Peter Pan at Belmont.

Neither horse had run in the first two legs of the triple crown.

Medal Count, a no-show at Pimlico after running eighth at Churchill Downs, finished third while California Chrome, his six-race winning streak snapped, dead-heated for fourth with Derby fourth-place finisher and Preakness skipper Wicked Strong.

California Chrome is the 12th Kentucky Derby-Preakness winner to lose in the Belmont since Affirmed, became the 11th Triple Crown winner in 1978. California Chrome came to Belmont Park a solid favorite after winning with authority at Churchill Downs and Pimlico, gaining weight in the three weeks between the second and third legs.

California Chrome broke alertly, as usual, but was challenged repeatedly down the long Belmont backstretch. Shades of Smarty Jones, who in his 2004 bid for the Triple Crown was pressured from the start but led in deep stretch before losing to Birdstone by a length.

Art Sherman, California Chrome's 77-year-old trainer, declined comment immediately after the race. His son, assistant trainer Alan Sherman, said: "That horse tried; that's all you can ask for. He took me on the ride of my life."

"I thought he was gaining ground, but he didn't have it in him, apparently," c0-owner Steve Coburn said.

Tonalist's victory marked the ninth consecutive time a horse who skipped the Preakness won the Belmont.

Some horses, Coburn said, ran Saturday only to weaken California Chrome, who dropped to fifth entering the stretch and never threatened late.

"It's all or nothing," Coburn said. "This is not fair to these horses and to the people that believe in them. This is the coward's way out. I'm 61 years old and I'll never see a Triple Crown in my lifetime. Our horse had a target on his back. If you have a horse, run him in all three races."

Tonalist rewarded the patience of trainer Christophe Clement, winning his first Triple Crown event, and jockey Joel Rosario, who stayed on Tonalist after his Preakness second on Ride On Curlin. Tonalist owner Robert Evans declined to respond to Coburn's comment when asked on the trophy stand by NBC's Bob Costas.

Tonalist got up in the final strides to deny trainer Todd Pletcher his third Belmont Stakes victory, which would have been his second in a row.

Commissioner, released at 28-1, just missed becoming the 11th winner of a Triple Crown event to race locally at Oaklawn Park since 2004. Stablemate Danza won the 2014 Arkansas Derby at 41-1 odds and finished third in the Kentucky Derby before taken out of training.

Commissioner, whose best previous races came off the pace, led through 6 furlongs in 1:12.84, tracked by Tonalist and General a Rod. Medal Count joined the fray on the turn and it was anyone's race when they turned for home after a mile and a quarter in 2:02.43. Commissioner, whose sire (A.P. Indy) and broodmare sire (Touch Gold) are Belmont Stakes winners, hung on gamely until caught by Tonalist.

"He was going easily," Rosario said of Tonalist. "I didn't want to be too far behind. When I got to the three-eighths pole I was a little confident. I was worried a little bit turning for home, but he started picking them up."

California Chrome won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness with off-the-pace moves, but Victor Espinoza, who had not lost aboard the colt, sensed something was amiss early in the Belmont.

"As soon as he came out of the gate he was not the same," Espinoza said. "By the five-eighths pole he was just empty. Turning for home I was just waiting to have the same kick like he always had before, and today he was a little flat down the lane."

Espinoza was aboard War Emblem in 2002 when the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner stumbled at the gate and finished eighth in the Belmont.

Tonalist, in only his fifth start, paid $20.40, $9.60 and $7. Commissioner returned $23.20 and $13.20, and Medal Count was worth $13.20 to show. Samraat finished sixth, Matterhorn eighth, Kentucky Derby runner-up Commanding Curve ninth and Matuszak 10th.

Owner Evans experienced Triple Crown heartbreak of his own in 1981 when father Thomas Mellon Evans' Pleasant Colony finished third in the Belmont after winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. Tonalist, incidentally, was produced by a Pleasant Colony mare.

"This morning I went to my father's grave and thanked him for putting him in this position," Evans said. "I've been where Steve Coburn has been, and it's not fun. I remember it was real quiet after we lost in 1981."

Dale Romans, trainer of third-place finisher Medal Count, saluted the fallen favorite, who went off at odds of $.85 to 1.

"It's unbelievable how this New York crowd came out and supported our sport," Romans said. "It's a great day for racing in America. It's about being around greatness, and California Chrome is greatness. He couldn't get it done today like the last 11 that tried, but he's greatness."

Information for this article was contributed by Ed McNamara of Newsday.

Sports on 06/08/2014

Upcoming Events