Tonalist Could be a Factor in The Belmont Stakes

For the most part, California Chrome will be quite familiar with the horses he’ll face when they go to the starting gate for the Belmont Stakes on June 7. Of the 19 starters for the Kentucky Derby, only two others came back to challenge him in the Preakness Stakes, Ride On Curlin, who was seventh in the Derby and a game second in the Preakness, and General A Rod, who was eleventh in the Derby, before coming on late to grab fourth at Pimlico. While it looks like General A Rod is out of the Belmont, Ride On Curlin will be there, along with a handful of colts that ran at Churchill but skipped the Preakness.

Favorite took control early in the Peter Pan

In addition to those, it’s expected there will be at least two “new shooters” joining the field, Tonalist and Commissioner, who hooked up a month ago to battle in the Grade II Peter Pan Stakes at 1 1/8 miles over a sloppy Belmont track. Breaking from the #4 post in the seven-horse field, Tonalist, the favorite at 6-5, slipped a bit coming out of the gate, and then moved forward to take the lead. Down the backstretch it appeared jockey Joel Rosario was having some trouble settling his horse, as the lead fluctuated between one and three lengths.

Open-lengths win had a familiar look to it

Coming into the stretch, Commissioner (7-2) emerged from the field to challenge along the rail, but in a move not all that different from what we’ve seen from California Chrome, Tonalist kicked clear quickly once they turned for home, and from there cruised to the win. Despite the slop, Tonalist set quick fractions and a final time of 1:48.30, less than a second slower than California Chrome had won the Santa Anita Derby over a much faster surface. A Kentucky-bred colt out of Tapit, the lightly raced Tonalist now has two wins and a second in four career starts.