Ron Correll
Senior columnist
Tracksideview.com

Fresh “wings” and redemption for Kent Desormeaux proved the undoing for Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird and Calvin Borel who was trying to become the first jockey to win a personal Triple Crown on different horses with a victory in the Belmont Stakes.

The fresh wings belonged to Summer Bird, who after finishing sixth in the Derby and skipping the Preakness, came on in deep stretch to win the 141^st running of the mile-and-a-half “Test of Champions” on Saturday at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

Desormeaux’s win took a lot of sting out of last year’s Belmont when he finished last while riding favorite Big Brown. Desormeaux had all but promised a win in the 2008 Belmont after Big Brown cruised to easy wins in the Derby and Preakness. But Big Brown failed to fire in the race and Desormeaux ended up easing the horse across the finish line.

The surprise of this year’s Belmont was when deep-closer Dunkirk shot to the lead and set early fractions of 23.41, 47.13 and 1:12.43 for six furlongs with Miner’s Escape, Mr. Hot Stuff and Charitable Man in tow. Summer Bird was running in sixth and Mine That Bird had dropped back to last in the 10-horse field.

Mine That Bird had been a little more aggressive in the post parade and was more into the bit as the race started and Borel let the colt move up into mid-pack before the field had reached the three-eighths pole. This may have been his undoing by making the premature move, but Borel said after the race that the pace was too slow and his horse wanted to go and he didn’t want to strangle his colt.

Mine That Bird was closing on the leaders rounding the second turn as Charitable Man and Dunkirk quicken the pace and disposed of Miner’s Escape and Mr. Hot Stuff.

The trio of Dunkirk, Charitable Man and Mine That Bird were dead even at the quarter pole and it looked like Mine That Bird was going to blow by, but the other two were not done yet. While the top three were battling, Summer Bird was making a move in the middle of the track and caught them inside the eighth pole and continued to pull away.

Dunkirk came off the rail and brushed slightly with Charitable Man, forcing his jockey Alan Garcia to take up. There was an inquiry after the race, but the stewards disallowed a claim of foul.

With Charitable Man out of the picture, Dunkirk and Mine That Bird were fighting it out for second and Dunkirk got to the wire first by a neck, but still three lengths behind Summer Bird who stopped the timer in 2:27.54. Charitable Man was fourth.

The Belmont Stakes win was Desormeaux’s first, but it was his fourth win on Saturday’s card. He said after the race that he didn’t know where Mine That Bird was and really didn’t pick him up until after he came off the turn.

“My horse had a lot of run and he went on with it when I asked him,” Desormeaux said.

He also said he hoped people would now talk about this win instead of Big Brown’s loss last year.

“I hope from now on we’ll talk about the winning one. I like to hope that horseman out there will realize when given the opportunity, I’ll get the job done. I think Summer Bird  prove that today in the race … It would have been a long way home, hanging my saddle up on the wall and not having notched a Belmont win. I’m ultimately thrilled for that,” Desormeaux said.

Summer Bird’s trainer, Tim Ice, has only been training for a year and is based at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La. He was asked if he had wrapped his mind around winning the Belmont Stakes.

“I haven’t even thought about it. I’m so excited right now. I’m glad I had Desormeaux where he could redeem himself. It wasn’t all his fault. I had a great ride. To win a Triple Crown race in just my first year of racing is unbelievable,” Ice said.

Ice said that Summer Bird would go back to Louisiana Downs and future plans would be worked out from there. Ice also thanked the owners Kalarikkal and Vilasini Jayaraman for sticking with him.

Todd Pletcher, trainer of Dunkirk, said his colt tied up (cramped) after the race but returned to the barn under his own power. He also said he was proud of the way his colt took it to the others in the race.

Charitable Man’s trainer, Kiaran McLaughlin, said he was surprised not to see his colt on the lead, but sitting in fourth early. “I’m not going to second-guess Alan (jockey Garcia), he’s a good rider.”

Summer Bird paid $25.80, $9.30 and $4.70. The $2 exacta paid $121 and the $2 trifecta paid $295.