Jazil answered every question in the 2006 Belmont Stakes

Shadwell Stable’s Jazil entered the 2006 Grade 1 Belmont Stakes with arguably more questions than credentials. His jockey, Fernando Jara, was just 18 years old, and his trainer, Kiaran McLaughlin, had never won a Triple Crown race. Yet as the field turned for home, the colt had gone from last-to-first to bring them all together at the perfect moment and make Belmont Stakes history.

Saturday’s Grade 1, $2 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets marks 20 years since Jazil was victorious before a crowd of 61,168 in the 12-furlong “Test of the Champion” on June 10, 2006, at Belmont Park.

This year’s edition takes place at Saratoga Race Course for the third consecutive year to allow for the uninterrupted construction of a new Belmont Park, which will open on September 18 and see the third jewel of the Triple Crown return to its Long Island home in 2027. Due to the configuration of Saratoga’s main track, the 2026 Belmont Stakes will once again be contested at 1 1/4 miles rather than the traditional 1 1/2 miles.

Jazil, bred in Kentucky by Skara Glen Stables and born in February 2003, was a son of Seeking the Gold out of the dual Grade 1-placed Deputy Minister mare Better Than Honour, who became and remains the only dam of back-to-back Belmont Stakes winners when the filly Rags to Riches won after Jazil in 2007.

“Jazil was a really well-made colt, but he was a bit on the smaller side. Distance was in his favor. He wanted to run all day,” McLaughlin said. “He was just a really nice horse to be around. He did everything right and he was a pleasure to train.”

Jazil, a $725,000 purchase at the 2004 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, made two sprint starts ahead of a third-out graduation under the young Panamanian-native Jara in an off-the-turf 1 1/16-mile maiden in December 2005 at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Following an allowance second to future Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap-winner Corinthian, Jazil stepped onto the Kentucky Derby trail, landing off-the-board in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park before a closing second to Bob and John in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial at the Big A – where he was 20 lengths back in last-of-9 through the half-mile. Jazil rallied furiously in the lane to nail Keyed Entry for place honors by a half-length, and was beaten just 1 1/2 lengths by Bob and John.

In the Kentucky Derby, Jazil and Jara employed the same style of trip. They were 17 lengths back in last-of-20 through the half-mile after exiting the inside post, the same draw as in the Wood. Jazil swerved in at the start and was very far back down the backside through three quarters in 1:10.88. In the second turn, Jara navigated Jazil up the rail and managed to dead-heat for fourth behind the victorious Barbaro.

“Jazil ran very well in the Kentucky Derby. It was a neat experience because Shadwell’s Sheikh Hamdan bid Rashid al Maktoum was in attendance that day,” said McLaughlin. “After Jazil ran in the Derby, we planned two works for him. After the first work, I didn’t like the track the next week because it had just rained. I said, ‘you know what, we are just not going to work again.’ We did work the first time, but not the second time. He was fit and didn’t need to work, so we just didn’t.”

McLaughlin said skipping that last breeze was a bit worrisome going up against a 12-horse Belmont Stakes field that included Kentucky Derby runner-up and third-place finishers Bluegrass Cat and Steppenwolfer, Grade 2 Peter Pan-winner Sunriver, as well as the aforementioned favorite Bob and John.

“You always like to keep them in a routine working weekly, but that didn’t work out,” McLaughlin said. “He wasn’t a big heavy horse, so I didn’t think he needed that last work. That proved to be the right decision. As trainers, we’d make plenty of wrong decisions and the horses overcome it, but this time, that was the correct decision.”

In the Belmont, Jazil hit the gate as he exited post 8, Jara lost his irons, and like usual, the horse was 11 lengths back in last-of-12 through the opening quarter-mile in 23.02 seconds set by Bob and John over the fast dirt. Jara got his foot back in his stirrup, saving ground in the first turn, before moving out in the backstretch to start his rally from the back.

“I didn’t like that beginning. Then, he recovered and moved, and I was afraid he might’ve been moving a little early,” McLaughlin said. “He went on and took the lead entering the stretch, but that’s a long stretch going a mile and a half.”

Jara, who was aboard Jazil for the sixth time in eight career races, said he was unfazed by the start.

“For a jockey, that was actually an easy race, he was an easy horse to ride,” Jara said. “He only had one style: break from the gate and fall back to last. He’d let you know when it was time to start going. For me, in the Belmont, I could feel him getting ready to go around the five-eighths pole. He started getting close to the pack, I just had to find my way through. I was very lucky to be getting through all the holes. By the three-eighths pole, I was clear.”

Through the mile in 1:37.53, Jazil was seventh and rapidly advancing between rivals. He took command at the top of the lane to the outside of the subsequent Hall of Famer John Velazquez-piloted Bluegrass Cat, but still had to hang on for the length of the long stretch of Big Sandy.

“In a race like the Belmont, that move was very early, but I rode him before and knew that he’d run all day, he wasn’t going to stop,” said Jara. “I remember that Johnny V, with around 500 meters to the wire, kind of looked at me like, ‘what are you doing?’ But I knew that when Jazil turned the engines on, he could go another whole lap around.”

Jazil powered to the wire while holding off Bluegrass Cat by 1 1/4 lengths in a final time of 2:27.86, with another 2 1/4 lengths to Sunriver in third – both those rivals were trained by now Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher.

“To win the Belmont was very special. It was extra special because both my children are born and raised in New York, even though I’m a Kentucky guy,” McLaughlin said. “Of course, it is a very important race and it was great to win an American Classic.”

It is still surreal to Jara that he lifted the August Belmont Trophy as a teenager.

“I grew up watching all of the Triple Crown races,” Jara said. “For me, it was a dream come true. I have to say thank you to Kiaran and the whole team. They believed in me, and believed that I was ready to ride this horse in these kinds of big races. That was very special.” 

Jazil earned a career-best 102 Beyer Speed Figure for his victory and was pointed to the Grade 1 Travers in August at Saratoga Race Course, but was later sent to the farm with a bruised cannon bone. The journey that year for the connections of Jara, McLaughlin and Shadwell Stable did not end there – it continued with Invasor.

“I have to give credit to [Shadwell’s Racing Manager] Rick Nichols for the Fernando Jara decision in the Belmont. He liked Fernando, we had some success with him, and he trusted him,” said McLaughlin, who is now a jockey’s agent representing Luis Saez and John Velazquez. “After winning the Belmont, Fernando got the call on Invasor and won the Suburban. He ended up with two big horses for us.”

Invasor won the 2005 Uruguayan Triple Crown for trainer Anibal San Martin and was purchased by Shadwell Stable ahead of a 2006 campaign under the care of McLaughlin. After two starts with other riders aboard, Jara picked up the mount aboard the 6-for-7 Invasor following his masterful Belmont Stakes winning ride.

With Jara up, the Candy Stripes bay posted a 5-for-5 record in exclusively Grade 1 company, winning the 2006 Suburban Handicap at Belmont Park, Whitney Handicap at Saratoga and Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs, as well as the 2007 Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park and Dubai World Cup at Nad Al Sheba. Invasor was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2013.

“That Belmont win for Kiaran, it opened doors for me, he gave me the opportunity on Invasor. Invasor was a monster,” Jara said. “The Belmont Stakes can open up a lot of doors for you.”

Jazil returned in 2007 to make three more starts, closing for second in a pair of optional claimers before a misfire when trying turf in his final start in the 1 1/2-mile Grade 3 Elkhorn that April at Keeneland. He went on to a stud career that was cut short when he succumbed to injuries sustained in a paddock accident in October 2014 at Shadwell Farm near Lexington.

“The Belmont is definitely one of my best memories, it is a historic race,” Jara concluded before he rode the card at his current Lone Star Park base in Texas. “At that time, I was based in New York. To win the biggest race in New York, it was definitely very special.” 

Now, a field of sophomores assembles for the final Belmont Stakes at Saratoga, each looking to answer their own questions like Jazil did two decades ago. The venue may be different and some of the faces have changed, but the Belmont Stakes remains one of the sport’s ultimate proving grounds, Jazil serving as a reminder that patience and heart can turn uncertainty into a moment of immortality.