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The best horse didn't win Commendable didn't win Belmont, Aptitude lost it
Posted: Sunday June 11, 2000 10:25 AM
By Mark Beech, Sports Illustrated ELMONT, N.Y. -- Pace made the race. Again. Only this time, the best horse didn't win. Five weeks after a hot pace helped Fusaichi Pegasus slingshot to victory in the Kentucky Derby, plodding fractional times played an important part in Commendable's slow march to the winner's circle in the Belmont Stakes. Stalking an unhurried Hugh Hefner through the first mile, Commendable -- who finished 17th in the Derby last month and went off at 18-1 on Saturday -- followed slow splits of 24.12 seconds for the first quarter-mile, 49.29 for the half and 1:14.39 for a mile. All the while, he saved his energy and left himself in perfect position for the heavy lifting he would have to do in the stretch. In the last half-mile of the race he only had to hold off mild bids by Unshaded and Aptitude, neither of whom was able to come within a length and a half of him. Indeed, Commendable didn't so much win the Belmont, as Aptitude -- the best horse in the race -- lost it, assisted by his jockey, Alex Solis, who failed to recognize how slow the field was going. Solis threw away the reins at the start, immediately opting to position the pre-race favorite in the back of the pack. He kept him there, nearly twelve lengths off the lead, for most of the first mile. By the time he got Aptitude in gear and made his move, around the 5/8-pole, it was too late. Commendable was running free out in front with plenty of gas left in his tank. "At the eighth pole I still thought I had a chance," Solis said afterwards. "But Commendable had too easy a time." Aptitude wasn't the only contender compromised by the crawling pace. Impeachment, the third-place finisher in both the Derby and the Preakness, needed a faster race so that he could use his late-running style to pick off tired horses in the stretch. With the field moving so slowly, however, nobody but Hugh Hefner really got tired, though Impeachment ran well to get up for fifth. "He made a nice run but couldn't close into those splits," said Impeachment's trainer, Todd Pletcher. "Or worst fears came true." So did ours.
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