Frosted and Flintshire Steal Belmont Day Spotlight

Frosted and Flintshire Steal Belmont Day Spotlight by Laura Pugh: On a day where the spotlight rested on the glamour division, the three-year-old males, two older males stole the show.

One of those who commandeered the spot was Frosted, who was part of the most watched division last season. On Belmont Stakes day, he demonstrated why the attention should still remain on him and his division with a commanding win in the Metropolitan Mile, at Belmont Park.

The son of Tapit, was coming off a fifth place finish to California Chrome in the Dubai World Cup, but proved much the best yesterday by winning the Met Mile by 14 ¼ lengths. With that win, Frosted improved his 2016 mark to two wins in three starts.

For those who question the race, believing that Frosted’s margin of victory was due to a tired and stopping field, you couldn’t be anymore wrong. First off, the final time of 1:32.73 was the fastest running in the race’s history. Secondly, his final quarter mile was an absolutely sizzling 23.37 seconds.

To put that final quarter into perspective, in races run over dirt, you typically like seeing horses coming home in 24.50 seconds, with 25 seconds flat being fairly respectably in longer races. 23.37 seconds blows those “good” and “respectable” times straight out of the water, and what makes this even more mind boggling is that he did while being wrapped up before the wire.

For his efforts, Frosted was given a 123 Beyer Speed Figure, the fastest since Midnight Lute was granted a 124 for his effort in the 2007 Forego Stakes. He was also given a 109 Brisnet Figure and a 122 Equibase Speed Figure.

The next race on the card was followed up with an effort just as good as Frosted’s, despite lacking the eye popping margin. The perpetrator of such an effort was the European invader Flintshire!

Like Frosted, he was favored, but still had his detractors. Again, he like Frosted, silenced them with an absolutely electrifying turn of foot.

He waited patiently, biding his time for most of the race before ratcheting up the pressure with a half a mile left to run. As they came into the stretch he unleashed such devastating turn-of-foot that he blew the race wide open. His final quarter was caught in a jaw-dropping 21.83 seconds. In times like these, many compare moves like this to a freight train….. In Flintshire’s case, I say he came home like a space shuttle.

The highly regarded Ironicous was game, and closed on for second, but had to steady twice, both at crucial points in the race. Should he and Flintshire meet again, I think he could be one of the only Americans to give Flintshire a scare, providing he gets a cleaner trip.

From the looks of yesterday, we may not need the “glamour” division to give our thrills and chills. There is brilliance in many of the other divisions, and we will get many more chances to see it displayed throughout the rest of 2016!

Related Links:
Creator Captures 2016 Belmont Stakes with Late Run
Belmont Stakes 2016 Results, Recaps, Replays