By Mark Berner

It was the other bird. Summer Bird, that is. And he upset the Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird to win the 2009 Belmont Stakes by 2 ¾ lengths before a crowd of 52,861. The winner, trained by Tim Ice, was considered to be just another son of 2004 Belmont Stakes winner Birdstone after he beaten by 13 lengths in the Kentucky Derby. But Kent Desormeaux gave Summer Bird the rail-skimming ride that Calvin Borel should have given Mine That Bird and took the race from them. Borel instead chose to move outside horses in the Belmont and that proved to be the difference at the end of 1 ½ miles.

Dunkirk set the pace and was resurgent on the inside in deep stretch to recapture second from Mine That Bird. The Derby winner moved four-wide on the final turn and made the lead at the quarter pole, then held it to mid-stretch before fading to third in the final sixteenth. Charitable Man finished fourth and was checked in the stretch by jockey Alan Garcia, who claimed foul against Mine That Bird. The claim was disallowed by the stewards.

Just one year ago Desormeaux was the goat aboard Big Brown, winner of the Kentucky Derby and The Preakness, and non-finisher at 3-10 in the Belmont Stakes. This year he was the hero. “I left the house this morning with a will to win this race,” Desormeaux said. “Last year's Belmont was like swallowing a spoon sideways.” The victory ended a six-race Belmont Stakes losing streak for Desormeaux and it kept Borel, who won the Derby on Mine That Bird and The Preakness on Rachel Alexander, from completing a unique triple on two different horses.

Belmont Park's main track retained plenty of moisture from this week's rain. It played kindly to the speed horses and was favorable to horses that raced on the inside. In the early races the strip was labeled good, but it was upgraded to fast prior to the seventh race, about two hours before the Belmont Stakes. Unfortunately, Borel didn't ride in any races prior to the Belmont, but he should have known how the track was playing by watching to races that led up to the Belmont Stakes. The prevailing track bias didn't necessarily spell doom for the late-running Kentucky Derby-winner Mine That Bird, but Borel's cavalier ride did. Borel is now 0-5 on dirt at Belmont Park.

While Desormeaux moved Summer Bird at just the right time, Borel made his move too soon. “Calvin might have set him down a touch early,” said a very lenient Chip Woolley, trainer of Mine That Bird. “It was a judgment call. I thought we were in good shape.” Borel seemed overconfident and put some of the blame on the horse. “He was kind of fighting me'” he said. “I thought we won it at the quarter pole.”

Summer Bird was good enough to overcome a tough trip. Desormeaux had to steady between rivals on the first turn and again on the backstretch when Summer Bird's own head-strong attitude put him a bit of a jackpot. Desormeaux had the colt in hand and in traffic while racing on the rail on the far turn, while Borel and Mine That Bird continued with a prolonged four-wide bid on the turn. Desormeaux swung out at the five-sixteenths pole for a clear run and had Summer Bird six-wide turning for home. Mine That Bird had the lead at that point but the ground lost on the far turn would catch up to him before reaching the finish line. Summer Bird challenged inside the furlong marker and rallied to the lead under a strong right-whip from Desormeaux.

Summer Bird paid $25.80 to win and Mine That Bird, at 6-5, was the fourth consecutive favorite that lost in the Belmont. Ice skipped The Preakness with Summer Bird after a sixth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. That strategy gave him a fresh colt for today race. In fact, both colts that finished ahead of Mine That Bird skipped the trip to Baltimore. “We took it day by day,” said the  Louisiana-based Ice. “The horse was going great all week. Anybody that came up to me and asked me about him, I said this horse is going to run big. He's a good-feeling horse. He was fresh, you know.”

When Borel was asked about his victory guarantee issued earlier this week he said: “No regrets. I thought I was on the best horse going in. He's been five weeks, back to back. It's been a good roll, and I wouldn't change it for anything.”

What's next for Summer Bird? “Right now we're going to enjoy this win and figure out everything later,” said Ice. He's going to Churchill on Monday and Churchill to Louisiana Downs.”