Where have all the favorites gone?
Lost to long shots, every one.
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
In a long Triple Crown campaign, through the spring prep races to the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, favorites fell like dominoes as one bomb after another made the tote board explode.
So surprise, surprise, yesterday’s 143rd Belmont Stakes produced yet another shocking upset, as 24-1 Ruler On Ice splashed home three-quarters of a length in front of 16-1 Stay Thirsty before a crowd of 55,779 on a cool, drizzly afternoon at Belmont Park.
Ruler On Ice, just the second gelding to win the “Test of the Champion,” gave New Jersey-based trainer Kelly Breen, jockey Jose Valdivia Jr. and owners George and Lori Hall of Rumson, N.J., their first Triple Crown victory. Equipped with blinkers for the first time, Ruler On Ice ran the 11⁄2 miles over a sloppy track in 2:30.88 to pay $51.50.
The exacta came back $928; the trifecta, with 10-1 Brilliant Speed third, returned $8,268. Derby runner-up Nehro, the second choice at 9-2, completed a superfecta worth $74,052.
In the rubber match between the Derby and Preakness winners, an appropriately rubber-legged Shackleford, who set the pace to the top of the stretch, held for fifth, 11⁄2 lengths ahead of Animal Kingdom in sixth.
Animal Kingdom, the 5-2 favorite in a field of 12, was the hard-luck story of the Belmont. A few strides out of the gate, he was squeezed like the ham in a panini, clipped heels and stumbled badly, almost losing jockey John Velazquez in the crush. Velazquez managed to stay in the saddle, but his foot slipped out of his left stirrup. By the time he got it back in, Animal Kingdom had dropped back to trail the field.
“It was unbelievable,” Velazquez said. “I was done. I had a horrible trip. No way was he going to make up that much ground.”
Animal Kingdom gave the crowd a thrill when he kicked in leaving the backside to loom boldly around the far turn. But after losing all chance at the start, he flattened out down the lane.
Shackleford, as expected, cleared the field from his far outside post and slowed the pace down through splits of 49.08 seconds and 1:14.51. Ruler On Ice was tracking him in second, with Stay Thirsty settled in third along the rail.
“Kelly said, we’ve got the blinkers on him, and it didn’t look like there was much speed, so put him into the race and hope for the best,” Valdivia said. “At the half-mile pole, I was hearing whips cracking behind me, and I could hear guys chirping to their horses, and all I’m doing is picking up the tempo. I still felt like I had a lot of horse under me.”
Turning for home, Ruler On Ice made his move. The son of Roman Ruler surged to the front with a furlong to run and held off the inside rally of Stay Thirsty, who suddenly reversed form after losing the Florida and Kentucky Derbies by a combined 28 lengths.
Ruler On Ice came in under the radar. He did not run in the first two Triple Crown races; his only two previous stakes starts came in New Mexico and Maryland; and he trained up to the race at Monmouth Park, only arriving at Belmont yesterday morning.
“The first time out of the gate [wearing blinkers], he was goofing off and didn’t break great,” Breen said. “Last week, he broke right, and sometimes the bulb just goes on. It was the perfect storm of things going right, and that’s how we got here.”
ed.fountaine@nypost.com