NEW YORK _ Tapwrit won the Belmont Stakes on Saturday evening at Belmont Park after passing 5-2 favorite Irish War Cry on the final stretch.
Tapwrit, at 5-1 odds, paid $12.60 to win. Irish War Cry was $4.70 to place.
Patch, the fan favorite horse which has no left eye, took third at 12-1 odds. He was $6.50 to show.
It was the first Belmont without the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winners in seven years. In 2010, Derby hero Super Saver ran eighth in the Preakness behind Lookin At Lucky, who was sixth after a troubled trip in the Derby. Neither colt was injured, but with no chance for a Triple Crown, trainers Todd Pletcher (Super Saver) and Bob Baffert (Lookin At Lucky) didn't want to run in the 1{-mile Triple Crown finale. In 2012, Derby-Preakness winner I'll Have Another was scratched the day before the Belmont because of a career-ending tendon injury.
The best horse on Saturday's Belmont card was not running in the Belmont. The champion 4-year-old filly Songbird, who is 11-for-12 lifetime, shipped in from California to compete in the Grade I Ogden Phipps for older fillies and mares that was positioned midway on the card. It was Songbird's first race since she suffered her only defeat, by a nose to Beholder last November in the Breeders' Cup Distaff at Santa Anita.
Despite the lack of buzz in the mainstream media, horseplayers were enthusiastic about a 13-race card that featured eight stakes races besides the Belmont. A crowd of about 50,000 was expected on a warm spring Saturday. The fans began arriving in Elmont well before first post at 11:35 a.m.
