Summer Bird shines bright in Belmont

Summer Bird is now the second classic winner from Birdstone's first crop (Harold Roth/Horsephotos.com)

SUMMER BIRD (Birdstone) entered Saturday's

Belmont S. (G1) with just a

maiden win to his name but exited with a classic victory as jockey Kent

Desormeaux vindicated his disappointing run on Big Brown in the 2008

running of the "Test of the Champion."

Dunkirk (Unbridled's Song) scooted over to the rail from his inside post and

proceeded to lead the 10-horse field through splits of :23 2/5, :47, 1:12 2/5

and 1:37 4/5 while tracked by Miner's Escape (Mineshaft) to his outside. Mr. Hot Stuff

(Tiznow) and Charitable Man (Lemon Drop Kid) were drafting just in behind, and

Mine That Bird (Birdstone) was in his now usual spot in the rear of the field.

Meanwhile, Summer Bird and Desormeaux were content to run in midpack while

saving ground on the backstretch and continued to wait even when Mine That Bird

and Calvin Borel commenced their run on the outside. Exiting the final turn,

Summer Bird swung out four wide and proceeded to run down the dueling Mine That

Bird, Charitable Man and Dunkirk, sweeping under the line 2 3/4 lengths in front while

completing 1 1/2 miles on the fast dirt in 2:27 2/5.

Dunkirk re-rallied to take down second over Mine That Bird (Jamie Newell/Horsephotos.com)

"This colt just laid down and took off," he continued, speaking of

Summer Bird giving the rider his first Belmont victory. "He really

exploded the last, probably 500 yards, and there was never any doubt

turning for home after he changed his leads. The only way I was going to

get beat if there was somebody behind me coming, he had dead aim on the

leaders."

The Tim Tice-trained Summer Bird paid $25.80, $9.30 and $4.70 to his

supporters at 11-1, while keying the $121 exacta, $295 trifecta and $852

superfecta (4-2-7-6). The Brooklyn H. (G2)/Belmont double returned $337.50

for those who held tickets containing both Friday's Brooklyn hero Eldaafer (A.P. Indy) and Summer Bird.

"All I could hear was my hollering," Ice described his reaction when Summer

Bird made his move. "I couldn't hear anybody else. It was surreal to see the red

cap, blue blinkers coming the outside, it was just a thrilling, exciting finish.

Summer Bird earned his first stakes win in style (Debra Kral/Horsephotos.com)

Dunkirk held off Mine That Bird by a neck on the line, and then survived an inquiry

about his stretch run where he briefly cut off Charitable Man to secure second.

The gray gave back $5.40 and $3.60 at 9-2.

"He ran well," trainer Todd Pletcher said of Dunkirk, who like Summer Bird

was looking for his first stakes win. "I told (jockey) Johnny (Velazquez) the

same thing I told him all week -- we wanted him to get into his rhythm. He made

the lead very easily and we were very happy with that. At the three-eighths

pole, we thought he might have been lucky."

"He battled every step of the way," Velazquez said. "He just got tired late,

but he ran a huge race. He was definitely tired when I pulled him up, and he

tied up. I hosed him down, and he seemed to be OK. I couldn't believe I was on

the lead early. There was no pace. The way he broke, he was already there on the

lead, so I didn't want to hold him back. I didn't see Mine That Bird, and he

came to me at the eighth-pole. Then, I got after my horse and he put up a real

good fight and came back to beat Mine That Bird for second. He just ran his

eyeballs out, but unfortunately, we just got beat."

Mine That Bird, the 6-5 favorite, was worth $2.60 for finishing 3 3/4 lengths in

front of Charitable Man on the line.

Summer Bird, Mine That Bird and Dunkirk provided a thrilling finish to Belmont 141 (Patrick Tyrrell/Horsephotos.com)

Charitable Man followed in fourth, with Luv Gov (Ten Most Wanted), Flying

Private (Fusaichi Pegasus), Brave Victory (Lion Heart), Mr. Hot Stuff, Chocolate

Candy (Candy Ride [Arg]) and Miner's Escape rounding out the order under the

wire.

Owned and bred by Drs. Kalarikkal and Vilasini Jayaraman in Kentucky, Summer Bird is the

first stakes winner out of the Summer Squall mare Hong Kong Squall, who has also

produced an unraced juvenile colt named Indy Squall (Jump Start) and an unnamed

yearling colt by Johar. The three-year-old chestnut broke his maiden in his

second career try at Oaklawn Park, then took on graded rivals in the Arkansas

Derby (G2), eventually rallying for third on the wire. He came seven wide over

the sloppy, sealed track at Churchill Downs in the Kentucky Derby (G1) last out

to eventually finish sixth, and improved his line to 5-2-0-1 while increasing

his earnings to $723,040 with this victory.

"Right now it's just unexplainable," Ice said, trying to describe

winning the Belmont in his first year of training. "I have to thank the

Jayaramans both for sticking with me. At first it was a little rough,

you know. We had a nice colt coming on the way here. They sent him to me

in January. I owe everything to them.