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Lani settling down ahead of Belmont Stakes
- Updated: June 1, 2016
7:25 PM ET
ELMONT, N.Y. — Lani may be shedding his reputation as the bad boy of the Triple Crown.
A horse who gave his handlers fits before the Kentucky Derby, would act studdish around fillies and mares, and was tough around the gate, Lani has been on his best behavior at Belmont Park.
If he didn’t wear a saddle towel with his name on it and didn’t make four laps around the track every day, it would be hard to distinguish him from any other horse.
“He has been behaving professionally,” said Keita Tanaka, agent for owner Koji Maeda. “He’s got experience, and having settled in this environment, it’s nice and quiet here, not too many horses at the track. He can go by his own pace every morning, and he’s quite happy.”
Tanaka was quite happy Wednesday after watching Lani work five furlongs in 1:02.36 over the main track, with a final quarter in 24.55 seconds. The work came on his third lap around the track after walking one lap and jogging and galloping a second lap. Prior to the official start of the breeze, he galloped three furlongs in 40.05 seconds.
In the stretch, Lani changed to his correct lead on cue, something that hadn’t been coming easily to the Kentucky-bred, Japanese-based son of Tapit.
“He got used to the style of the races here,” Eishu Maruuchi, Lani’s exercise rider, said through an interpreter. “He changed leads this morning exactly as I wanted him to do. I’ve seen some improvement since last time.”
Lani, who won the United Arab Emirates Derby in Dubai, finished ninth in the Kentucky Derby, beaten 10-3/4 lengths by Nyquist, and fifth in the Preakness, beaten five lengths by Exaggerator. In neither race did he break well.
His connections believed all along that if he were to do well in a Triple Crown race, it would be in the Belmont Stakes at 1-1/2 miles.
“First …
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