A ‘snipshot’ for why Barber Road will be the 2022 Belmont Stakes champ
There will be no Triple Crown champion to emerge from this year’s American Classics. We knew that much when the connections of the surprise-Kentucky Derby winner, Rich Strike, held him out of the Preakness Stakes just two weeks later.
But the Belmont Stakes will always carry its deserved place in the five-week series—even when a crown isn’t on the line—because of the 1 1/2 mile test of endurance it demands of each of its runners.
Indeed, there is no dismissing whichever horse earns the Belmont’s garland of white carnations.
And there is easily one horse who is suitably primed to show that endurance…
Jockey Jose Ortiz absorbs the moment aboard his 2022 Preakness champion, Early Voting. © Andrew Sgroi | All Rights Reserved
When Rich Strike skipped the Preakness, so did another late closer who had evenly rallied off the blistering pace set by the frontrunners in the Kentucky Derby.
That plucky colt is named Barber Road, and he’s been showing his abilities since his juvenile campaign.
Take a look at his nine-lifetime starts and the first thing that jumps off his running lines is the consistency that he’s shown. Not one start should be dismissed for a setback or poor performance.
Sure, his debut at Colonial Downs last August wasn’t especially impressive—finishing 4th in a smallish six-horse sprint field, 12 and a quarter lengths back from the winner.
But he then broke his maiden next out at Keeneland, stretching out considerably following a nearly 10-week layoff.
He followed up that score with another win—this time more than 6 lengths ahead of the place finisher—and all the while cutting back in distance.
Follow me here: disastrous at a sprint on first-asking, wins at an 8 1/2 furlong route, and then repeats as a winner when asked to sprint a second time.
He concluded his 2 y.o. campaign with another sprint in his first stakes try, where he just missed his third straight victory by a half-length to Tejano Twist—who had blasted him in that debut effort.
Oh yes, Barber Road had certainly shown at that point that he was poised for the Road to the Kentucky Derby.
His three-year-old campaign began on New Year’s Day, the day when every foal from 2019 assumes that crooked number.
And in just his second stakes try—the $250,000 Smarty Jones at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, AR—the colt stretched back out to a route and steered through traffic late to get up for place. What’s more? He did it on a sloppy track. If Belmont takes rain on Saturday, Barber Road can handle slick footing.
Later in January, BR stepped up in class, testing his first graded stakes waters in the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn. He also added distance from his one-mile prior start, returning to the 8 1/2 furlong trek on which he scored his maiden.
He finished second.
Four weeks later, his conditioner, John Ortiz, chose to point him towards Grade 2 company and take a run at the $1M Rebel Stakes purse. In that effort, his regular rider—Reylu Gutierrez—decided to keep him back of some modest early fractions and, true to form, he “split foes late. willingly” to grab the show payout.
Thus, Barber Road’s 2022 scorecard to this point: two 2nds, one 3rd…he’d stepped up in class each of his three starts…he’d adroitly handled an off-track…he had sat back of leaders and consistently saved his run for in-the-money finishes.
Finally, the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby on April 2nd gave the gray son of Race Day the final push of points he would need to enter the starting gate at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May.
In that AR Derby edition, he once again stretched out in distance (9 furlongs, or 1 1/8 miles) and managed to lug past seven other contenders—including the filly and eventual 2022 Kentucky Oaks champion, Secret Oath—to finish second to Cyberknife.
That now gave him three place scores and one show as a developing three-year-old.
True, his Run for the Roses try was out of the money but, considering that he was 19th at the half-mile mark and 11-wide with just a quarter-mile remaining, his 6th place finish out of 20 runners continued to showcase the colt’s resilience.
So who better to ace this year’s “Test of the Champion” than Barber Road?
After all, to endure requires resolve. And this grinding colt has shown with each test to date that he is prepared.