Union Rags charging to a neck victory in Saturday's Belmont Stakes

  PICTURE: Equisport  

Union Rags rewards faithful camp in Classic

WORLD CLASS: an analysis of the international scene according to Racing Post Ratings

The story of Union Rags is a tale of two of the biggest hearts in the business.

The first was responsible for pulling the colt back to breeder Phyllis Wyeth, who regretted selling him as a yearling, and the second ensured her faith was rewarded with success in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday.

Anyone who doubted Wyeth's devotion to the colt need only look at the sales ledger to see that after selling him as a yearling on the advice of her accountant she paid over double to get him back at two.

And anyone who doubted the resolve shown by Union Rags in his series of unlucky defeats need only to watch the way he battled to victory in the 'Test of Champions' to see that he does not want for courage.

The family ties between Phyllis Wyeth and Union Rags run deep. It all started with her parents, James and Alice Mills, and his third dam Glad Rags almost 50 years ago.

As the last foal from his dam Tempo, Union Rags represented the last great hope for the dynasty of the families, both human and equine. As fate would have it, he also turned out to be the best yet.

Union Rags finally came good in the final strides of the year's final Classic, rewarding decades of breeding for Wyeth and her family.

After a series of luckless runs leading up to the Belmont, the son of Dixie Union had been at risk of being labelled an underachiever. He travelled much further than Hansen when narrowly losing the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, he had no chance off slow fractions in the Florida Derby and he was given plenty to do and met trouble in running in the Kentucky Derby.

But he had also shown glimmers of real talent and when he got a clean trip he could be most impressive, like when cantering to success in the Champagne Stakes at two and when easily winning the Fountain of Youth at three.

After running a full circuit of Belmont Park, trouble-free, his class shone through again.

It was a clean race and the field were towed along by the Bob Baffert-trained Paynter, a newcomer to the Classic arena having just his fifth start.

Union Rags (123) always travelled well behind the leaders and once a gap opened on the rail he squeezed through to collar Paynter (122) and score by a neck. Atigun (119) was a length and three quarters away in third.

In recent years the Belmont Stakes has gained a reputation for throwing up some long-priced winners, but while the victors may not have been champions going into the race, they didn't do too badly afterwards.

Summer Bird, the 2009 winner, went on to land the Travers and the Jockey Club Gold Cup and last year the 2010 and 2011 winners ran first and third in the Breeders' Cup Classic.

Union Rags was no longshot. He already looked a class act judged on his previous form and victory in the Belmont enhanced his claims to being one of the best of his generation.

It is the unique test of endurance that makes the Belmont the big spoiler for Triple Crown success and stamina was the question facing I'll Have Another as he aimed to become the first horse since Affirmed in 1978 to land all three Classics. We were denied an answer to that question after he was retired on Friday with a tendon injury.

Winning would have made him a great, while losing would have confirmed what a great test the US Triple Crown provides. He now joins the expanding list of horses who have secured two legs of the Classic series.

Even in his absence, the Test of Champions probably still turned up a good one in Union Rags.

For trainer Michael Matz this success confirmed the high opinion he always held of the colt. For Wyeth, it was vindication for her purchase. The story of Union Rags was a gamble of the heart that paid off.

TOP OF THE CLASS: Union Rags 123 Michael Matz (US) (Belmont Stakes, Belmont Park, 1m4f, June 9)

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