Sports

Shug puts Orb back on track for Belmont Stakes

A rubber match in the June 8 Belmont Stakes between Kentucky Derby winner Orb and Preakness winner Oxbow appears more likely after Orb took to the track yesterday morning for the first time since he finished fourth as the 3-5 favorite in last Saturday’s middle jewel of the Triple Crown.

“I was pleased,” trainer Shug McGaughey said after Orb galloped a mile at Belmont Park under regular exercise rider Jennifer Patterson. “We’re taking it as it comes and not looking too far ahead. But if everything goes well, we’d like to run in the Belmont.”

At Churchill Downs, McGaughey’s fellow Hall-of-Fame trainer, D. Wayne Lukas, was still reveling in Oxbow’s victory, which gave Lukas his record 14th win in a Triple Crown race, breaking the tie he had held since 2000 with “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons.

“I never dwelt on the record too much,” said Lukas, who turns 78 on Labor Day. “I think the most significant thing for me was to be in the same company with Sunny Fitzsimmons. I found it interesting that he won his last [Triple Crown race] at 82. He meant so much to the industry, so to be with him all those years was enough for me.

“I think I enjoyed [this Triple Crown win] every bit as much as my first and maybe more. It stirred up a lot of old relationships and friendships. I got hundreds of voice mails and texts. There were a lot of people pulling for us.”

Lukas said the victory, at odds of 15-1, “validated” his belief in Oxbow.

“I always thought he had an unfortunate spring with the way he kept drawing and getting parked outside,’’ he said. “To see it all come full cycle, especially with Gary [Stevens] in the irons, it was really gratifying.”

The win was the ninth in the Triple Crown for Stevens, 50, who has won each of the jewels three times. The Hall of Fame jockey, who had been working as an actor and TV analyst, came out of retirement in January after seven years of not riding.