No Danza In Belmont Stakes

[Shelby]

Jose A Contreras ‏@LosPonies 1m
Danza has been withdrawn from Belmont consideration. Getting a break and going to Ocala.

[Shelby]

David Grening ‏@DRFGrening 1m
Re: Danza. Pletcher thought he lost weight, needs more time. Had some skin disease after Ky Derby. Will go to dad's farm for eval and break

[Matt Bryan]

Wouldn't have made 1-1/2 any way.

[SecretAgentMan]

This is the only horse I couldn't figure out what he's capable of doing......good to hear, go Chrome!

[TheEdge07]

Wouldn't have made 1-1/2 any way.

Agree wouldve plodded home for 3rd..

[Tom]

A break from what? :D

[lamboguy]

if you are a CALIFORNIA CHROME fan, this scratch doesn't help in the least bit. i would think you would want as many horses battling each other behind CHROME.

[Shelby]

Danza was my pick in the Derby. I'm disappointed he won't be running. I thought he had a good shot.

[Matt Bryan]

if you are a CALIFORNIA CHROME fan, this scratch doesn't help in the least bit. i would think you would want as many horses battling each other behind CHROME.


Some money would have been put on Danza, so that's unfortunate. The Preakness payouts, not to mention many of the undercard races, were simply terrible. Hopefully the Belmont doesn't shape up that way.

[SecretAgentMan]

Danza was my pick in the Derby. I'm disappointed he won't be running. I thought he had a good shot.


My cousin absolutely loved Danza in the Belmont.......I just text him & told him the news. I asked him who he likes now but I'm assuming some of the Danza backers will jump on Wicked Strong knowing he likes the NY track. I know WS has had rest & is a one move kind of horse. He's hoping Chrome gets in a hot pace duel.

[dannyhill]

Some money would have been put on Danza, so that's unfortunate. The Preakness payouts, not to mention many of the undercard races, were simply terrible. Hopefully the Belmont doesn't shape up that way.
Some would say the Preakness payouts were excellent based on the trips the other 2 Derby horses received Derby day. The #2 and #10 both had troubled trips Derby Day, and improvement could have been expected. Just as the General is better than his last 2 races appear. Not sure the Belmont will be his day, but at some point this horse may win a big 1.

[Matt Bryan]

Some would say the Preakness payouts were excellent based on the trips the other 2 Derby horses received Derby day. The #2 and #10 both had troubled trips Derby Day, and improvement could have been expected. Just as the General is better than his last 2 races appear. Not sure the Belmont will be his day, but at some point this horse may win a big 1.

Yeah, I mean, they weren't bad for an average race - but, a TC race with a $173 super payout isn't too exciting.

[Dark Horse]

if you are a CALIFORNIA CHROME fan, this scratch doesn't help in the least bit. i would think you would want as many horses battling each other behind CHROME.

I wouldn't mind a five horse race, like Secretariat's Belmont.

[lamboguy]

I wouldn't mind a five horse race, like Secretariat's Belmont.
you could never get that this year, these are all good horses with trainers and owner's that think they have a legit chance. by the time SECRETARIAT was in the Belmont, all the other horses were knocked out. this time around there is a group that skipped out of the Preakness and RIDE ON CURLIN and GENERAL A ROD that ran good races in the Preakness and they deserve to show up in New York. as far as field strength goes, this is probably the strongest Belmont in 50 years. If CALIFORNIA CHROME wins this race i don't know how one could dispute him not being one of the better 3 year old champion's regardless of what happens after this series.

[clocker7]

you could never get that this year, these are all good horses with trainers and owner's that think they have a legit chance. by the time SECRETARIAT was in the Belmont, all the other horses were knocked out.
I bolded that part of your bigger post.

I think it was more of an era of owners and trainers respecting overwhelming talent of Secretariat pre-race (and Sham to a lesser extent). With those two in the field, it looked like running for 3rd place at best, on paper.

Our Native (3rd place KD) opted for the Jersey Derby (where the second tier went), to get beaten by the likes of Knightly Dawn, finishing fifth. And he was really didn't amount to much afterwards, either, and got slaughtered later in the Jockey Club GC by Prove Out.

Forego (4th place KD) ran in the Withers and then in an Belmont undercard allowance race, so being unfit must have not been the reason. He simply was an immature allowance class runner that would run four more of those type of races consecutively afterwards.

The real reason is that the crop was incredibly weak going longer than 9f. (People like to rattle off the vast number of stars from the 1970 crop, but most weren't in the TC fields and ones like Linda's Chief was unfit for the distance) In fact, what ran in the Belmont--setting Sham aside, whatever his issue was that day--was one of the worst modern fields ever. I once ran through the complete lifetime charts of the three also rans and they were as pitiful as it gets. Something like Point Given would have trashed them by 20 or so also.

[PhantomOnTour]

Only four lifetime starts before the Derby. He ran hard that day and is possibly sapped.
Hard races take more out of some horses than others....of course, Pletcher trains him so no telling what he's recovering from :)

[TheEdge07]

I wouldn't mind a five horse race, like Secretariat's Belmont.
Cheap shot ..:lol: