#Anthony Fauci namesake is a favorite at Belmont Park

A horse named Fauci is a favorite in the third race at Belmont today.
Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post; AP (inset)

No, not Dr. Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease expert, but the horse named after him which will run in the third race at Belmont Park today as racing returns to Elmont, the first sporting event in New York in 80 days. Fauci, jockeyed by Tyler Gaffalione and trained by Wesley Ward, is a 4-to-5 favorite.

Philip Antonacci bought the 2-year-old son of Malibu Moon and Tashzara for $175,000 last year. Three months ago, he applied to The Jockey Club to give the horse the name Fauci to honor his family’s Italian-American heritage and the human himself, as Fauci was a neighbor of his family’s in Brooklyn who belonged to the same parish as his grandparents.

“It would be fitting if Fauci won, to give the whole thing a bit of closure,” Antonacci told The Post’s Mike Vaccaro.

Fauci is Post handicapper Vic Cangialosi’s lock of the day.