Tuesday's Belmont Stakes Report

ELMONT, NY – As the expected field size for the final leg of the Triple Crown continues to swell–up to 13 at last count–there was plenty to take in on a very warm and humid Tuesday morning at beautiful Belmont Park.

The New York-bred Governor Malibu (Malibu Moon), a rallying second in the local prep GII Peter Pan S., got the day started with a gallop shortly after 6 a.m. as the sun began to rise on the backstretch near the training track. Trainer Christophe Clement, also responsible for popular 2014 GI Belmont S. hero Tonalist (Tapit), was later on hand with New York Racing Association officials and prominent owner Michael Dubb to help ring the New York Stock Exchange's Opening Bell in Manhattan to highlight this week's Belmont S. Racing Festival.

The formidable Todd Pletcher trained-duo of Destin (Giant's Causeway) and Stradivari (Medaglia d'Oro) got their first feel of the main track about 10 minutes later after logging all of their previous work, including a pair of four-furlong moves Friday, on the nearby training track.

The blinkered Destin, led out with a stable pony, got a little hot during his gallop, and understandably so, as the sun showed little mercy under cloudless skies despite the very early hour. The Twin Creeks Racing Stable and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners colorbearer heads to the Belmont S. off a non-threatening sixth-place finish in the GI Kentucky Derby after posting a pair of well-regarded graded stakes wins at Tampa earlier this term.

'TDN Rising Star' Stradivari, a bit more eager to get down to business, briefly tossed his head while getting underway before turning in a very good-looking gallop under a snug hold. The handsome dark bay seems to have bounced out of his educational fourth-place finish in the GI Preakness S. in just his fourth career start feeling quite well. Both Pletcher runners will school in the paddock at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday.

It was just another day at the office for G2 UAE Derby hero and Preakness fifth Lani (Tapit), who galloped during his typical extended stay on the main track at 6:40 a.m. The gray, sporting a dark red bridle as well as front wraps, did seem to be on his best behavior Tuesday for what it's worth.

There was a pretty tense moment a little later in the morning when an unraced Ken McPeek-trained 2-year-old was trapped on top of the inner rail after tossing his exercise rider. McPeek later Tweeted that the unraced son of Old Fashioned was thankfully no worse for wear after suffering only some minor scrapes.

A decent-sized group of media began to emerge as Belmont S. favorite Exaggerator (Curlin) was led out of the tunnel by trainer Keith Desormeaux after the renovation break at 8:45 a.m. With his brother Kent in the saddle for the first time since Exaggerator's smashing win in Baltimore, the Derby runner-up breezed five furlongs in a solid 1:00 4/5. Despite drifting a bit at the top of the lane and also switching to his right lead on the early side, he appeared to finish up smartly and was urged to gallop out past the wire as well.

The Desormeaux brothers both seemed quite pleased with the piece of work when meeting the press a bit later in the morning.

“He had a nice calm, confident look in his eye and he was under control, so it looks like we're in good shape,” Keith Desormeaux said.

Kent Desormeaux added, “He straightened away to the eighth pole, I asked him to quicken and he was full of life and full of speed.”

The handsome gray and 'TDN Rising Star' Cherry Wine (Paddy O'Prado), meanwhile, jogged the outer rail going the wrong way relatively unnoticed while the media flocked to Keith Desormeaux awaiting his charge's return. Just up for second at odds of 17-1 in the Preakness, Cherry Wine bounded by with very good energy as did his two-time Grade I-winning stablemate Brody's Cause (Giant's Causeway), who  was the last of the Belmont S. contenders to train at about 9:30 a.m.