Belmont Familiar Territory For Ruler On Ice Owner George Hall

ELMONT, N.Y. – George Hall is quite familiar with the Belmont Race Track from the countless days he spent there as a child.

The alum from the Class of 1978 has come full circle as a toddler betting food money at the track and asking his brother to buy him hotdogs.

“I was a degenerate gambler by the time I was in seventh grade,” Hall joked in the bowels of the race track after his horse Ruler On Ice won the 143rd Belmont Stakes Saturday evening. “Catholic schools get out early every Thursday, so we used to go to the track.”

Ruler On Ice, racing out of the third stall, which did not make the field of the Kentucky Derby and did not run in the Preakness Stakes, was at 24-1 odds to win this year’s race at Belmont and ran the final leg of the Triple Crown in 2:30.88.

With sloppy conditions, Ruler On Ice beat out a field, which included Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom and Preakness winner Shackleford. There was a $1 million purse for the Grade 1 race.

Hall grew up in Freeport, N.Y. and is the son of a New York City Police Officer. Aside from his weekly visits to the track, he was on the swim team at Chaminade and active in baseball and hockey.

The latter sport is the force behind the second half of Ruler On Ice’s name. His son George, 7, plays hockey and is the real “Ruler On Ice,” according to his wife Lori, who took the dais with him in the Belmont theater to celebrate their victorious weekend.

“I’m still shaking,” she said. “It was amazing because we really were the underdog. I couldn’t have dreamt it any better.”

The couple lives near Monmouth, N.J. where Ruler On Ice is based at Monmouth Park.

Hall is a graduate of the United States Merchant Marine Academy and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is the president and founder of the investment company Clinton Group, Inc.

He hired trainer Kelly Breen, who spent the post-race press conference explaining that Ruler On Ice beats to his own drum.

“You have to take baby steps with this horse,” he said. “We’re just understanding what he wants and needs. We’re pacifying him.”

Coming into the final turn Hall wondered if his horse would have enough gusto to make history.

“And he did,” Hall said proudly. “I was stunned, I don’t know exactly what I was thinking, but it was wonderful. There is no better place for us to win a big race.” 

News & Notes

• Jockey Jose Valdivia Jr. on the win: “At the half-mile pole, I was hearing whips cracking behind me and I could hear guys chirping to their horses, and all I’m doing is picking up the tempo. At the sixteenth pole, I thought, ‘This is the true Test of the Champion.’ It’s a great feeling.”
• This marks the third straight year that all three legs of the Triple Crown were won by different horses.
• In order the final results were Ruler On Ice, Stay Thirsty, Brilliant Speed, Nehro, Shackleford, Animal Kingdom, Mucho Macho Man, Santiva, Monzon, Master of Hounds, Prime Cut and Isn’t He Perfect.
• According to the New York Racing Association, a crowd of 55,779 wagered $10 million on Belmont Stakes Day races, a 32.9 percent increase over $7.5 million last year. Attendance was also up 23.3 percent.