Mount Up dug in and responded to a vintage ride from champion jockey Irad Ortiz to score a maiden win by a whisker Thursday at Belmont.

Mount Up battled up front the whole way and looked to be fading at the top of the stretch but he came back on in tight quarters to prevail in a dramatic three-way stretch duel.

Trained by Todd Pletcher, the 3-year-old son of Army Mule was racing for the first time since a second-place finish in his debut last fall in the slop at Belmont.

West Point campaigns the colt in a racing partnership with St. Elias Stables and Robert Masiello. He was acquired as a yearling at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select sale.