Zito’s horses fly, but under the radar

Unless you were one of the few to place a bet on him, hardly anyone remembers that Da’Tara won the Belmont Stakes last year. All the focus was on Big Brown’s bid for the Triple Crown, and when he completely flopped, Da’Tara’s improbable wire-to-wire victory at 38-1 odds seemed like an afterthought.

Trainer Nick Zito doesn’t mind, however. In fact, he kind of likes keeping a low profile. He’s certainly had success at the Belmont. In 20 chances, he’s won twice, finished second six times and third three times. He has a chance to succeed again with two horses today, Brave Victory and Miner’s Escape, both listed at 15-1. Like Da’Tara, both horses are owned by Robert V. LaPenta.

“I think they’re both good horses, and they both have good chances,” Zito said. “I think they’re going to run well. They’ve run two good races in a row.”

Zito’s horses also have the advantage of not having competed in either of the first two legs of the Triple Crown, meaning they should be, along with Charitable Man, the freshest horses in the field.

“I think just leading up to the Triple Crown, you can take a lot out of a horse,” Zito said. “So these two particular horses have that in their favor. They may not be as good as the Mine That Birds and the Charitable Mans or whomever else, but they didn’t go through the rigors of a Triple Crown race. So who knows, maybe lightning will strike twice.”

Zito did say he thought the race was Mine That Bird’s to lose, and that if one of his horses didn’t win, he wanted it to be either Mine That Bird or Summer Bird. Both are sons of Birdstone, a horse Zito trained to a Belmont victory in 2004.

“Those two trainers, I just love where they come from and the way they handle themselves,” Zito said of Chip Woolley and Tim Ice. “That’s what our sport is about.”

Woolley’s first look

Although Woolley has been getting a lot of credit for discovering a diamond in the rough in Mine That Bird, he wasn’t exactly sold on the horse when he traveled to Canada on behalf of his friend Mark Allen to see if he was worth the $400,000 asking price.

“His legs went left and right was the first thing I noticed and kind of turned me off, to be honest,” Woolley said. “When I first went and looked at him, I thought, ‘He’s kind of a pretty colt.’ But when they let him out and I looked at his legs, I kind of stepped back and eased away from him and called Mark and said, ‘Man, this horse is kind of crooked. I don’t know. That’s a lot of money.’

“But I stayed and watched him train, and when you watch him train and get over the racetrack, it kind of changes the way you look at him. He just moves so, so well. We decided to take the gamble.”

Hirsch honored

Legendary horse racing writer Joe Hirsch, who died in January, was honored Friday in a ceremony at Belmont Park. Hirsch was the executive columnist for the Daily Racing Form from 1974 to 2003, when he retired. He was the founder of the National Turf Writers Assn.

“To give Joe a Triple Crown to cover was like giving Picasso a brush, or Tiger Woods an eight-foot putt,” said Hall of Fame trainer Wayne Lukas.

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kevin.vanvalkenburg@baltsun.com

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

The Belmont Stakes

RACE 11 -- Approx. post time, 3:27 p.m. PDT. Coverage on Channel 7. Purse, $1 million. For 3-year-olds, 1 1/2 miles, dirt. All horses carrying 126 pounds. All horses colts, except Mine That Bird (gelding).

*--* P# PP Horse Jockey Trainer ML 1 1 Chocolate Candy (KY) G. Gomez J. Hollendorfer 10-1 2 2 Dunkirk (KY) J. Velazquez T. Pletcher 4-1 3 3 Mr. Hot Stuff (KY) E. Prado E. Harty 15-1 4 4 Summer Bird (KY) K. Desormeaux T. Ice 12-1 5 5 Luv Gov (KY) M. Mena D. Lukas 20-1 6 6 Charitable Man (VA) A. Garcia K. McLaughlin 3-1 7 7 Mine That Bird (KY) C. Borel B. Woolley Jr. 2-1 8 8 Flying Private (KY) J. Leparoux D. Lukas 12-1 9 9 Miner’s Escape (KY) J. Lezcano N. Zito 15-1 10 10 Brave Victory (KY) R. Maragh N. Zito 15-1 *--*

Owners: 1 -- The Craig Family Trust; 2 -- Mrs. John Magnier, Michael B. Tabor, Derrick Smith; 3 -- WinStar Farm; 4 -- Kalarikkal K. and Vilasini D. Jayaraman; 5 -- Marylou Whitney Stables; 6 -- Mr. and Mrs. W. K. Warren Jr.; 7 -- Double Eagle Ranch Inc., Buena Suerte Equine; 8 -- Robert C. Baker, William L. Mack; 9 -- Robert V. LaPenta; 10 -- Robert V. LaPenta

Equipment Changes: 4 -- Summer Bird, blinkers on

Source: Equibase