After securing three straight Grade 1 victories, including a 4 1/4-length victory in the Kentucky Oaks (G1), Rags to Riches will be given an opportunity to make history on Saturday in the $1-million Belmont Stakes (G1). Rags to Riches will be the first filly to run in the 1 1/2-mile Belmont this century as Silverbulletday finished seventh in the 1999 edition of the race.

“This is something that hasn’t been done in modern times,” trainer Todd Pletcher said of potentially winning the Belmont. “At the end of the day, she’s already won three Grade 1s. … She would be doing something you don’t see every Saturday.”

With the addition of Rags to Riches, trainer Patrick Biancone told Belmont officials that he would not start Time Squared in the race.

Rags to Riches is by 1992 Belmont winner A.P. Indy. Out of the Deputy Minister mare Better Than Honour, she is a half sister to last year’s Belmont winner Jazil.

“Her pedigree is the best you could ever have for this race,” Pletcher said.

On Sunday, Rags to Riches worked five furlongs in 1:03.84. While the slow time initially concerned Pletcher, the dry track proved slow that day. Pletcher liked the way she finished the breeze and liked how she looked on Monday morning.

“Starting her here actually provides better spacing in terms for the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) and the Alabama [Stakes (G1)],” Pletcher said of the three-year-old filly races on July 21 at Belmont and August 18 at Saratoga Race Course. “We’d rather run her now than wait three more weeks for the Mother Goose [Stakes (G1)]. We’ve prepared for the last five weeks to run in the Belmont. She’s ready to run now.”

Steve Asmussen, trainer of Preakness Stakes (G1) winner and likely Belmont favorite Curlin, said Rags to Riches is an impressive addition to the race.

Because Pletcher was not sure he would enter Rags to Riches in the Belmont, he gave Garrett Gomez, the regular rider of Rags to Riches, permission to seek another mount. Gomez has committed to riding Hard Spun and Hard Spun’s trainer, Larry Jones, said he will not allow Gomez out of that commitment.

“We intend for him to stay on Hard Spun; that’s just the way it is,” Jones said.

Michael Tabor’s and Derrick Smith’s Rags to Riches has won four straight starts and is undefeated in two-turn efforts. She will face males in the Belmont off Grade 1 wins in the Kentucky Oaks, Santa Anita Oaks, and Las Virgenes Stakes.

“She was obviously special from the very beginning,” Pletcher said. “We got her and Ravel at Churchill Downs at the same time and you could tell right away with both of them.”

Pletcher and the owners had considered starting Rags to Riches in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) but opted to go in the Kentucky Oaks instead.

With Derby winner Street Sense skipping the Belmont, Pletcher talked things over with Smith and bloodstock advisor Demi O’Byrne, who purchased Rags to Riches for her owners for $1.9-million at the 2005 Keeneland September yearling sale, and decided to give the filly a shot.

“She’s getting five weeks and we think the five pounds will help her,” Pletcher said. “She has the breeding for this distance and won’t have the 20 horses you see in the Derby.”
source: www.thoroughbredtimes.com