Dornoch triumphed in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday evening in Saratoga Springs, New York, closing out the 2024 Triple Crown horse races.
With 17-1 odds, Dornoch bested Kentucky Derby champion Mystik Dan, who had 6-1 odds, and Seize the Grey, the Preakness Stakes victor with 5-1 odds, finishing in 2:01.64.
Seize the Grey was in a tight race with Dornoch for much of the event before falling back to seventh place, right in front of Mystik Dan. Mindframe, another 5-1 contender, made a late surge but fell short.
Dornoch is co-owned by ex-MLB player Jayson Werth, who clinched the 2008 World Series with the Philadelphia Phillies and later spent seven seasons with the Washington Nationals.
“I would rank it up there with winning on the biggest stage,” Werth expressed. “Horse racing is the most underrated sport in the world, hands down. It’s the biggest game: You have the Derby, the Preakness, the Belmont. We just won the Belmont. This is as good as it gets in horse racing. It’s as good as it gets in sports.”
The win was jockey Luis Saez’s second Belmont victory and trainer Danny Gargan’s first in any Triple Crown race.
“No one believed in this horse,” stated Gargan. “It’s speechless. He’s such a talented horse.”
The 2024 Belmont Stakes, the 156th iteration, marked its debut at Saratoga Race Course due to construction at Belmont Park, resulting in a shortened race distance of 1 1/4 miles instead of the usual 1 1/2 miles.
