The local owners of Dornoch saw their racehorse pull off an upset win at the 156th running of the Belmont Stakes on Saturday.
The race was held at the Saratoga Race Course in New York to allow the construction of a new Belmont Park.
Larry Connolly of Buckhead, a founder and one of the owners of West Paces Racing, said horse racing as a sport is fraught with heartbreak, but when it goes right, there are special moments. The Kentucky Derby was challenging for Dornoch at the start in the post position.
“Our fate was actually sealed within like the first 50 yards of the race,” Connolly told Rough Draft.
In the 10-horse field for the Belmont Stakes, Dornoch’s position at the start was near the middle in the sixth position, fellow West Paces Racing syndicate owner and Sandy Springs resident Keith Mason said
Connolly said Dornoch broke cleanly and got near the lead by the first turn, just as planned. After that, Connolly said he knew they had a chance to win.
By the beginning of the second turn, Dornoch made his move to capture the lead. Once in the lead, Connolly doesn’t think their horse was ever in danger of losing it. When Dornoch crossed the finish line in first place, he was a 17:1 upset winner.
Mason took it as a sign they were going to win when he drove up to Saratoga Springs just after a heavy rain shower on Thursday afternoon and saw a rainbow.
Connolly said getting a horse to the races in the Triple Crown takes a team effort, starting with bloodstock agents Conor Foley and Jim Hatchett of Oracle Bloodstock and their trainer, Danny Gargan, with his team of Scotty Everett, Priscilla Schaefer and Carol Fisher. Luis Saez was Dornoch’s jocke.
“Our last couple of races were somewhat troubled trips, including the Derby. But things could not have worked out better at the Belmont and Luis gave him a magnificent ride. All of his decisions were spot on,” he said.
The sold-out crowd of more than 50,000 fans watched Dornoch hold onto the lead in the final eighth of a mile and claimed victory by a half-length, according to Belmont Stakes.
West Paces Racing’s other Kentucky Derby competitor Society Man won the Winn Stakes at Churchill Downs in Louisville, KY a day after Dornoch won the Belmont.
Mason said it was quite an accomplishment to get two horses in the Kentucky Derby. And to have them both win at historic racecourses over the weekend was another big accomplishment.
Mason said the partnership and trainer Danny Gargan will decide if Dornoch will race in the Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park in New Jersey on July 20. Or he might race at the Jim Dandy at Saratoga on July 27.
Both races are considered prep races for the Traverse Stakes on Aug. 24 at the Saratoga Race Course, Connolly said.
West Paces Racing owns more than 20 horses that are being trained. It will participate in the fall yearling sales at Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky. The racing company will form its sixth partnership with other owners in the fall.
