Belmont Contenders Update: Kuchar Won’t Run In Belmont Stakes

• Kuchar Out Of Belmont, may run in Grade 3 Ohio Derby at Thistledown on June 25.
• Kuchar won an allowance race at Churchill Downs last time out.
• The 2022 Belmont Stakes will be held on June 11, 2022 at New York’s Belmont Park.

The Belmont Stakes ‘prospective’ list is down to 11 with word that Kuchar won’t run in the final leg of the Triple Crown. Trainer Rodolphe Brisset gave the word late last week, though he didn’t elaborate on his thinking.

Kuchar laid an egg in his first three year old start on April 12, finishing 7th in a field of 11 competing in a MSW at Oakland Park. Worth noting that this race was won by stablemate We The People so there’s always the chance that this could have impacted his performance. He came back on March 13 to win his first career race in another MSW at Oaklawn. He finished second in the April 23 Oaklawn Stakes.

The next race for Kuchar is the one that motivated his connections to consider him for the Belmont. He went 1 1/4 miles in a field of three year old and up horses. Here’s the chart of that race:

Trainer Brisset has said that the timing of the Ohio Derby (June 25) is more favorable to his horse and that’s likely why the decision was made. Brisset still has We the People pointed to the Belmont. Here’s what Brisset said about his plans prior to withdrawing his horse from Belmont consideration:

“Kuchar is under consideration for the Belmont just because he won at a mile and a quarter and beat older horses. Speaking with Florent (Jockey Florent Geroux) after the race, he said he was waiting on horses. Watching the replay, you can see at the eighth pole it looked like he was almost in trouble but he rebroke strongly. Based on that, I felt like it maybe wasn’t a bad idea to put him under consideration without any commitment. We got him back to Keeneland and he’s back to training. He cleaned the feed tub and is moving well. I’ll give myself another couple days before really committing to it.” 

“The timing would be better in the Ohio Derby. It’s 50/50. If I had to lean anywhere, it would be to the Ohio Derby, but things can change.”

The Ohio Derby is a Grade 3 stakes race with a $500,000 USD purse run at Thistledown.

Otherwise, the Belmont Stakes field has had no changes. Brigadier General is still under consideration, as no decision about his status has been announced. Post position draw and morning line odds will be announced at 11:00 AM Eastern on Tuesday, June 7.

BELMONT STAKES FIELD PROJECTION AS OF JUNE 1, 2022