McGaughey gives Orb green light for Belmont

McGaughey gave the go-ahead for Orb to contest the Belmont following his move on Sunday (NYRA/Adam Coglianese Photography)

Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey on Sunday morning gave the
go-ahead for Kentucky Derby winner
Orb to face Preakness winner Oxbow in
Saturday’s $1 million Belmont Stakes after the colt worked a half-mile
in :48 1/5 over the fast main track at Belmont Park.

With regular exercise rider Jennifer Patterson aboard and
working in company with Grade 1 winner Hymn Book, the Malibu Moon colt was
caught by NYRA clockers going the first quarter in :25 after an opening split
of :13. Pulling away from his workmate in the final yards, Orb galloped out
five furlongs in 1:00 2/5.

“He started off nice and steady, which Shug wanted, and
finished up strong,” Patterson said. “I gave him his head at the eighth-pole and
he opened up his stride. He did everything very easily. I didn’t have to
encourage him at all. He came off the track and he was kind of spooking and
playing, but in a good way.

“He’s just happy and feeling good. Everything went right this morning.”

Orb will try to become the first Derby winner to take the Belmont since Thunder Gulch in 1995 (Debra Kral/Horsephotos.com)

“I think the Belmont is a race that stands on its own and we would love to be
able to compete in it and love to be able to have a good chance to win, and go
from there.”

The race will be the 21st Belmont in which the Derby and
Preakness winner square off, although Orb and Oxbow will have plenty of company
with as many as 15 possible to enter. In head-to-head meetings, the Derby winner has won the
Belmont five times and the Preakness winner nine times. Most recently, Derby
winner Animal Kingdom finished fifth and Preakness winner Shackleford sixth in
the 2011 Belmont won by Ruler On Ice.

Orb was favored to win the Preakness, but finished fourth on a day during
which McGaughey said “nothing went right.”

“It does shake your confidence a little bit,” he admitted about the loss. “I remember back in
’89 when Easy Goer got beat in the
Derby, I attributed it to the (sloppy) racetrack. But I didn’t know, because I
didn’t have any comparison. Are we as good as Sunday Silence or is he two or
three lengths better than us? Then we ran in the Preakness and got beat a nose,
and I knew we were comparable to him.

“I think if things go right, next Saturday
I think you’ll see a different horse than we saw two weeks ago.”