It’s not everyday you ask a thoroughbred to run 1 1/4 miles in their second career start. In fact, most horses never run 1 1/4 miles during their career. But that’s exactly what Chad Brown (Woodford Racing Trainer) did on May 9th at Belmont Park (New York) when he ran Militiaman in a 1 1/4 mile race on the turf.
Militiaman ran a fast closing fourth in his first career start at Gulfstream Park (Florida) in February going 1 1/16 miles on the turf. After drawing a very wide post position (#11) in Florida, we knew the chances of winning were not very good. Despite the tough post position, Militiaman made a strong run to just miss third place suggesting added distance would not be a problem.
On May 9th from post position #1, Militiaman broke cleanly from the gate and bided his time toward the back of the pack. As the horses traveled up the backstretch, jockey Irad Ortiz coaxed Militiaman and he began to gain ground along the rail. At the top of the stretch Militiaman was sixth, trailing by 4 lengths with a quarter of a mile to go. Ortiz guided Militiaman to the center of the track where he began to rally. In what turned out to be a three horse blanket finish, Militiaman prevailed by a head! Here is the race video.
While it is too early to determine what his next race will be, it’s exciting to think Militiaman could possibly run in the New York Racing Association’s (NYRA) new Turf Trinity Series. The Turf Trinity Series is three races that mirror the distances of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes but will be run on the turf. The races are for 3 year old colts at distances of 1 1/4 miles. 1 3/16 miles and 1 1/2 miles and each race has a purse of $1 million. The first and third legs of the Series will be at Belmont Park (July 6th and September 7th) and the second leg will be run at Saratoga Racecourse on August 4th.
We will see what the future holds!
You can find an article on Militiaman from Bloodhorse on page 18 here.