Trainer Steve Margolis and his wife, Sue, arrived at Belmont Park early Tuesday morning to oversee
the final preparations for Stay Put’s run in Saturday’s 1 ½ mile race.
It was a homecoming of sorts for Margolis, who worked at the track for Hall of
Fame trainer John Veitch, Howie Tesher and Stanley Hough before going out on
his own.
Stay Put is the first Belmont
contender for Margolis, who lived on Manhattan’s Upper West Side as a child and
moved out to Long Island when he was 12.
“We always thought he had a lot of potential,” said
Margolis. “During the whole course of the Fair Grounds meet, we were trying to
get into the Kentucky Derby, but just didn’t have enough earnings. When we saw
his race on Derby Day [optional claimer win] we all sat down and thought about
the Belmont.
“He’s a long-striding colt, and it doesn’t seem like the
distance is a problem. Every time Jamie [Theriot] gets off, he says the horse
never seems to get tired. It’s just a question of whether he can step up to
Grade 1 competition.”
Stay Put, owned by Richard, Bertram and Elaine Klein, walked
Tuesday morning and will gallop into the race.