SARATOGA SPRINGS — While many horse racing fans are expecting Saturday’s Belmont Stakes to be a rematch, it just might turn into a threematch.
Baeza made a late rush from the back of the pack in the May 3 Kentucky Derby, coming up less than two lengths short of winner Sovereignty, with Journalism in between.
Journalism then won the Preakness two weeks later, while Sovereignty rested.
Now, in the second Belmont Stakes to be conducted at Saratoga during Belmont’s renovation, Baeza is the third-favorite at 4-1 to get his slice of the Triple Crown pie.
“I had a hard time finding him [in the Derby] because it was so muddy that day, but once he got out and made his move, he was obviously finishing faster than any horse in the race,” trainer John Shirreffs told The Post. “After the race, [jockey] Flavien [Prat] said he didn’t get all the run he could have out of Baeza had he had an opportunity to get out a little sooner.”
Shirreffs is best known for training 2005 Kentucky Derby champion Giacomo and 2009 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Zenyatta.
Prat has two Triple Crown wins — the 2019 Kentucky Derby aboard Country House and the 2021 Preakness with Rombauer.
Baeza himself is in position to claim a place in history.
With a victory on Saturday, his broodmare, Puca, would become the first to have produced three Triple Crown race champions, and she would have done it in consecutive years.
Mage won the Kentucky Derby in 2023 and Dornoch captured the Belmont Stakes last year.
Both were by Puca and Good Magic.
Baeza was sired by McKinzie. Like Mage and Dornoch, Baeza spent his first year and a half of life at Runnymede Farm in Paris, Ky.
“[Baeza is] a dream to train. I mean, there’s nothing I would want to change about that horse,” Shirreffs said. “He’s the perfect weight. He’s the perfect size. He’s got a beautiful stride. He’s got this great appetite. He’s the total package.”
Baeza is named after Hall of Fame jockey Braulio Baeza, who in 1963 became the first Latin American rider to win the Kentucky Derby aboard Chateaugay.
Owner Mike Repole, the billionaire benefactor of St. John’s basketball, has a Belmont Stakes championship with Mo Donegal in 2022 and a second place with Mindframe last year.
On Saturday, he sends 30-1 Uncaged to the post with trainer Todd Pletcher and jockey Luis Saez.
Saez won last year’s Belmont Stakes aboard Dornoch.
Repole’s Fierceness will be hunting for an automatic bid to the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile when he runs in the $1 million Metropolitan Handicap, Saturday’s eighth race.
Fierceness won the Travers Stakes in 2024, the signature event of Saratoga’s summer meet.
Giants board director Chris Mara made it to the winner’s circle on Friday.
He’s part of the ownership group of Bellacose, who won the first race for jockey John Velazquez and trainer Wesley Ward.