Triple Crown hopeful I’ll Have
Another was reunited with his regular exercise rider, Jonny Garcia,
Tuesday morning for his routine gallop over Belmont Park’s
main track in preparation for the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes on June 9.
The 25-year-old Garcia, who had not been aboard I’ll Have Another
since he added the Preakness to his victory in the Kentucky Derby, said the
chestnut colt felt just the same as he did before winning the first two legs of
racing’s Triple Crown.
“He feels the same now and he feels like the same horse,”
said Garcia, speaking through fellow exercise rider and interpreter Humberto
Gomez, who had galloped the horse the past four mornings. “I think [Belmont Park] is pretty much the same [as
Churchill Downs and Pimlico]; the only difference is that this track is a
little heavier.”
O’Neill had nothing but praise for Gomez and Hector Ramos, who
had filled in for Garcia at Belmont while he
went to visit his family and then awaited his license to work as an exercise
rider in New York,
which he received Monday evening.
“I’ll Have Another has looked good every day here, but
it’s nice having Jonny back on him and having Jonny tell me how he feels
so good, that he’s handling the surface great and is stretching as good
as ever,” said the trainer. “He’s been on him since Day 1. So
that’s definitely an added bonus to a great day.”
I’ll Have Another, who noticeably picked up the pace coming
through the stretch Tuesday morning, is scheduled to gallop into the 1 ½-mile
Belmont, in which he is seeking to become racing’s 12th Triple
Crown winner and first since Affirmed in 1978.
“He gallops strong,” said O’Neill. “We’re
not too worried about the times, more so with how he’s moving and
switching leads out there. You can tell, especially with the four white polo
bandages, by the dirt covering all four bandages equally, how he’s
switching properly all the way around. I was very happy with the way he looked
today.”