Not surprisingly, the major news of the day was in regard to American Pharoah, who returned to the track for the first time since winning the Preakness Stakes on May 16th. With Bob Baffert’s assistant trainer Jimmy Barnes overseeing the morning training, American Pharoah went out and jogged a mile at Churchill Downs.
According to the official Churchill Downs Barn Notes, Barnes was pleased with American Pharoah’s work. “He looked very good, I couldn’t be happier,” said Barnes. “His energy level is good.”
It’s also possible that American Pharoah will return to galloping tomorrow morning morning: “We’ll go to the track tomorrow and Bob [Baffert] will tell me what he wants to do,” Barnes said. “If he says jog him another day, we’ll jog him another day. If he says gallop, then we’ll gallop. Bottom line, he is in charge; I’m just the caretaker of the horse.”
In other Belmont Stakes news, it was announced that Irad Ortiz, Jr. has been given the mount on UAE Derby (UAE-II) winner Mubtaahij, who finished eighth in the Kentucky Derby (gr. I). The following tweet was reported on the official Twitter account of Mike de Kock, the trainer of Mubtaahij: “Christophe [Soumillon, regular rider of Mubtaahij] has fixed commitments and Irad Ortiz will ride Mubtaahij in Belmont. Comes highly recommended.”
Following this new jockey assignment development, here is the current field of expected starters for the Belmont Stakes, along with all known jockey assignments:
| Horse | Jockey | Trainer |
| American Pharoah | Victor Espinoza | Bob Baffert |
| Carpe Diem | Unknown | Todd Pletcher |
| Conquest Curlinate | Shaun Bridgmohan | Mark Casse |
| Frammento | Mike Smith | Nick Zito |
| Frosted | Joel Rosario | Kiaran McLaughlin |
| Keen Ice | Unknown | Dale Romans |
| Madefromlucky | Unknown | Todd Pletcher |
| Materiality | Unknown | Todd Pletcher |
| Mubtaahij | Irad Ortiz, Jr. | Mike de Kock |
| Tale of Verve | Gary Stevens | Dallas Stewart |
| War Story | Colby Hernandez | Tom Amoss |
