Drosselmeyer, a classic underachiever for most of his career, finally came through with a classic victory yesterday at Belmont Park before a sweat-stained crowd of 45,243. The WinStar Farm colt circled the field on the far turn under Hall-of-Fame jockey Mike Smith, then wore down front-running First Dude in deep stretch to win the 142nd Belmont Stakes by three-quarters of a length over the late-closing Fly Down. First Dude hung on for third.
As it has so often in the past decade, the 11⁄2-mile “Test of the Champion” produced boxcar payoffs. Drosselmeyer, favored in six of his previous eight starts, was a long shot this time, paying $28 to key a $144.50 exacta and $766 trifecta. His final time was a snoozy 2:31.57, the slowest Belmont since 1995.
Drosselmeyer’s victory filled in a missing piece of the puzzle in Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott’s career, giving Mott his first-ever win in a Triple Crown race.
“This is really the second Belmont winner I saddled,” Mott said, noting that he saddled Victory Gallop in 1998 because his trainer, Elliott Walden, was on crutches. “I just tried to put it on the same way, and it worked. It’s a great feeling, very special, and as time goes on, it will settle in.”
Walden is now the racing manager for WinStar, which also owns this year’s Kentucky Derby winner, Super Saver
It was the first Belmont victory in 13 tries for Smith, who replaced Kent Desormeaux in the saddle after a series of disappointing efforts by Drosselmeyer. The son of Distorted Humor, purchased as a yearling for $600,000, was fourth in the Risen Star, third in the Louisiana Derby and second in the Dwyer in his last three starts.
“We went to Louisiana twice, and just didn’t have the racing luck we needed to win,” Mott said. “Because we didn’t have the earnings, we couldn’t get in the Derby, which was a bit of a disappointment. But some things are just meant to be. We had our luck today.”
First Dude, who set a fast pace in the Preakness and held for second, went to the front again under Ramon Dominguez and slowed the pace down to a crawl (24.15, 49.19 seconds, 1:14.94), tracked in close pursuit by Interactif and Game On Dude.
Turning for home, as Interactif backed up, Game On Dude went to the attack, but First Dude, staggering through the heat, dug in to hold him off. But he couldn’t hold off Drosselmeyer or Fly Down in the final yards.
Fly Down was the seventh horse to finish second in the Belmont for trainer Nick Zito, whose other entry in the race, 9-5 favorite Ice Box, finished ninth.
“That Pulpit [his temperamental sire] came out in him today,” Zito said of Ice Box, the runner-up in the Derby. “He left his race somewhere. He’s much better than that.”
The Belmont anchored a graded-stakes pick 6 in which long shots won the preceding two races: Champagne d’Oro ($81) in the Acorn and Winchester ($44.80) in the Manhattan Handicap. The result: A three-day pick 6 carryover for Wednesday’s card at Belmont with a whopping $930,495 in the pool.
One odd note: Uptowncharlybrown, who ran fifth, was disqualified to last because he lost part of his lead pad during the race and did not finish with the required weight of 126 pounds.
ed.fountaine@nypost.com