After winning Belmont Stakes, Dornoch will stay at Saratoga

The Belmont Stakes Racing Festival is wrapping up after an exciting four days at Saratoga, and a lot of history was made on and off the track.

Just a day after winning the 156th Belmont Stakes, thoroughbred Dornoch still had plenty of energy Sunday morning. 

“I really don’t know how I describe it. I mean, it’s something that’s going to take days to sink in,” said Dornoch’s trainer Danny Gargan. 

While the magnitude of what his colt had accomplished may still be hard to comprehend, Gargan and his team knew if any horse in their stable had what it takes to win a Triple Crown race, it was Dornoch. 

“We wanted him to get out of the gate, get a good position,” he said. “He’s got a big stride, he’s got a high cruising speed. We just wanted to let him get into that cruising speed and keep going.”

It was a career-first Belmont Stakes win for Gargan, but a second for jockey Luis Saez, who called the colt the best 3-year-old in the country. 

“This year, he grown a lot, and he got a lot of abilities showing that he’s a Grade 1 winner,” Saez said. 

Just a month at Churchill Downs, Dornoch finished 10th at the Kentucky Derby and 18 lengths behind the winner Mystik Dan. Just days later, Gargan sent the thoroughbred to Saratoga, and they went to work over the next five weeks to prepare for the Belmont Stakes.

On Saturday, in the third leg of the Triple Crown, it was Mystik Dan and everyone else trying to catch Dornoch. The Saratoga Race Course, known as the “Graveyard of Champions” due frequent upsets, living up to that name once again as Dornoch entered the field at 17-1 in the shortened 1-and-1/4-mile race. 

“It was pretty emotional,” Saez said. “It’s something like you never expect. Everybody wants to win this race and it’s pretty tough to win it. But after you passed the wire first, it’s a great feeling.”

The colt will keep training at the Spa over the next several months. Gargan says the Haskell, Jim Dandy, and Travers Stakes are all viable options for Dornoch’s next race. 

“We’re just thrilled and happy that he came out of the race great,” Gargan said. “He looks wonderful this morning. And [we’re] just looking forward to what we still have to see from him.”

As the Belmont Stakes Racing festival comes to an end, a brand-new Saratoga racing season is just a few weeks ago. Opening day is July 11.