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The 2021 Triple Crown started with Essential Quality as the betting favorite and 3YO to beat in the May 1 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve as his trainer, Brad Cox, and owner, Godolphin, sought their first win in an American classic.
As the June 5 Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets at Belmont Park brings down the curtain on the famed series, Essential Quality is the betting favorite and 3YO to beat as his trainer, Cox, and owner, Godolphin, are still seeking their first win in an American classic.
That, of course, has everything to do with the Bob Baffert-trained Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit failing both a post-race test and a split sample for the corticosteroid betamethasone, raising the distinct possibility that he will be stripped of his victory and a lengthy legal battle will ensue.
Yet regardless of whether Medina Spirit or the runner-up Mandaloun is declared the winner of the Run for the Roses, the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes offers a reset of the Triple Crown with five starters from the Run for the Roses facing the Preakness Stakes Gr.1 winner in a 1 1/2-mile Test of the Champion that should provide a better sense of definition to the race for the 3YO championship.
Essential Quality, a homebred son of Tapit, is the 2-1 favorite over seven rivals in the final jewel of the Triple Crown and a victory would wipe away much of the sting from the Kentucky Derby when he raced wide and finished fourth, suffering his lone defeat in six career starts.
Cox says his first impression of Essential Quality was that he had Belmont Stakes winner written all over him, and the way the son of the Elusive Quality mare Delightful Quality has bounced back from his loss on the first Saturday in May fills the Eclipse Award-winning trainer with confidence.