Belmont Contenders Update: Brigadier General Will Pass On Race

• The connections of Brigadier General have indicated that the horse won’t run in the Belmont Stakes.
• Brigadier General will be pointed to either the Matt Winn Stakes or the Ohio Derby.
• The 2022 Belmont Stakes will be held on June 11, 2022 at New York’s Belmont Park.

Heading into the final weekend before the Belmont Stakes and the prospective field is now down to 10. The connections of Brigadier General have indicated that the horse will pass on the race. Yesterday, the connections of Kuchar announced that he wouldn’t make the start in the 1 1/2 mile final leg of the Triple Crown. The remaining 10 prospective entrants all look to be somewhere between ‘probable’ and ‘likely’. Post position draw and morning line odds will be announced at 11:00 AM Eastern on Tuesday, June 7.

Brigadier General is owned by West Point Thoroughbreds and stable president Terry Finley told Bloodhorse that he didn’t think his colt was ready:

“Not by a longshot, but it’s just a touch too much for him right now.”

To the contrary–it’s difficult to see why his connections thought that he would be competitive in the Belmont to begin with. He’d never raced at the track, never raced at the distance, never competed in a stakes race and is only now developing the consistency expected from a top level thoroughbred. It should suffice to say that he’s never faced anything remotely close to this level of competition.

Brigadier General broke his maiden at Keeneland on April 14 in a MSW against a field of dubious quality going 1 1/16 miles. Next up, he finished fourth in a five horse field in an allowance race at Churchill Downs:

Nothing on this chart suggests that he would be competitive at a mile and a half stepping up in class. The plan now is to point him to the Grade 3 Ohio Derby with a $500,000 USD purse run at Thistledown on June 25. The competitive class of this race along with the mile and an eighth distance is a more reasonable ‘next step’ for Brigadier General.

Also under consideration is the G3 Matt Winn at Churchill Downs on June 12 going a mile and one sixteenth:

BELMONT STAKES FIELD PROJECTION AS OF JUNE 2, 2022