Race for the Crown Episode 6 Recap: The Belmont Stakes

The Belmont S. (G1)—the Test of the Champion—gets the spotlight in the sixth and final episode of "Race for the Crown." Three weeks after the Preakness S. (G1), it serves as the concluding leg of the Triple Crown. Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan faces off against Preakness champion Seize The Grey. Due to ongoing construction at Belmont Park, the race is held at Saratoga in 2024.

The episode opens at the Sarasota, Fla., home of Jaysen and Julia Werth, introduced in Episode 2. The couple co-owns Dornoch, who won two Kentucky Derby prep races before finishing fourth in the Blue Grass S. (G1). In the Derby, Dornoch broke poorly, and now he’s aiming for redemption in the Belmont.

Jaysen, a retired MLB All-Star, reflects on his career.

“I played sports for a long time at the highest level,” he says. “I won at the highest level. That freakish excitement on a day-to-day basis: It’s hard to find something that even comes close.”

Seeking a new competitive outlet, he took up golf—and met horse owners along the way.

“That’s when horses found me,” he said.

Jaysen describes an athlete-to-athlete connection with horses. 

“I see this parallel between me and the horse… I’m still learning most of the stuff. But do I understand where the horse is coming from more than maybe anybody else in the industry? I think I do.”

He affectionately calls Dornoch “Big Puppy.” 

“He took us to the Triple Crown,” Jaysen says. “And it’s one of the coolest things I have ever been a part of.”

Outside of trainer Danny Gargan’s barn, we meet Johnny Depp, his rescue cat with his own “condo,” complete with a white picket fence, a garden, and a brass name plate. He briefly steals the spotlight before attention shifts back to Dornoch.

“The Belmont trophy is real heavy,” Gargan tells Werth. “As an assistant trainer, I got to hold it once. When you hold it up, it’s a heavy, heavy trophy.” 

Jockey Katie Davis and her family return. She has a mount on Belmont weekend—Union Trail. She visits with her agent, Joe Migliore, who recounts how, when he began representing her, several trainers were hesitant about putting a new mom on a horse. In an emotional moment, Katie shares that her first agent told her she wasn’t going to make it.

“It only takes one big horse to totally change your whole career,” she says. 

Belmont weekend delivers her a breakthrough: Union Trail wins an allowance race in a runaway. 

“Once you get that feeling, you just want more of it,” she says. She dreams of riding in the Belmont Stakes one day. 

An SUV carrying Jaime Torres, jockey of Seize the Grey, and his family arrives. His mother offers a prayer in Spanish. “Let him continue fighting for his dreams,” the translation reads. “And thank you again for this opportunity you give us. Let’s enjoy the day. Let’s enjoy the moment. But always watch over him all along the way.” 

Mike Repole, owner of Fierceness, returns with a promising but lightly-raced colt named Mindframe, who quickly rose through the ranks.

The gates open for the Belmont. As the race unfolds and the horses enter the stretch, Mindframe and Dornoch duel for the lead. Mindframe, showing his inexperience, drifts out, straightens, and then makes a final surge. Dornoch holds on to win by half a length. Werth leaps in celebration, hugging his companions.

Repole’s final words on the show echo his first, laced with the same mix of sarcasm and theatrical flair he displays on social media.

“To come second in the Belmont is extremely tough,” he says. “You can only be a three-year-old colt one year in your life. That’s it. Mindframe will be back next year. But he can’t win the Belmont. I’ll be polite and say that you wasted three hours of my life. You probably cost me millions and millions of dollars. I know the f***ing three hours I gave you are Oscar-worthy. Thank you, and get the f*** out of my house.” 

Repole exits the series.  

Werth, now hoisting the very trophy Gargan once described as “heavy,” is asked how it compares to a world championship.

“I would put it right up there with winning the biggest stage. Horse racing is the most underrated sport in the world, bar none,” he says. “I won a World Series. I lost to the Yankees. So I know what it is like to win. I know what it is like to lose.” 

He gets emotional and steps away before finishing his thought. 

“There is no walk of life where the cast list is as varied,” commentator Nick Luck says. “Every race, you’ve always got a different story to tell.” 

As the camera pans over Frankie Dettori; Fierceness and Repole; Mystik Dan, McPeek, and Hernandez; Seize the Grey and Lukas; and Dornoch, Werth, and Gargan—it’s clear he’s right.