A great day for the sport.
 

As we can all appreciate now, Saturday was a magical day of racing conducted by a proud racetrack to an appreciative throng of 85,000 and millions more that watched and wagered in parlors, ovals and at home. Those that choose to scoff and deprecate can wallow in their own misery. The rest of us had an instantly memorable day with friends old and new, made possible by generous equine athletes and intrepid human connections whom we revere and celebrate. In what turned out to be a remarkable epilogue to the week's turn of events, I hope all of you had a wonderful day. If you love the game, I know you did.

It was a great day. We rode the train, and from the sound of the conversations around us, it was the first time to the track for a lot of people. After a gorgeous day like today, I can't imagine that many of them won't be back.

Not that I was able to cash a single damn ticket, mind you, but I'd rather lose money on a beautiful day at Belmont than anywhere else. ;)

Win or lose, each Triple Crown race was thrilling this year. You would be hard-pressed to find a better advertisement for racing than having all three of its most-watched races being decided in the final 1/16th.

The most memorable moment for me was the Preakness. I had played Bodemeister and was counting my money at the top of the stretch. As IHA drew alongside Bodemesiter, I began partly rooting for IHA even though it was against my interests because I knew I was witnessing something special.

triple crown or not, that was an exciting finish to a competetive race.

i thoroughbred-ly enjoyed it.

Especially compared to boxing...

I don't think I would call it a "magical" day of racing.

* The Easy Goer was won by an N1X who got beat 15+ in the Preakness.

* The True North was won by a former claimer who Pletcher has done well with.

* The Just A Game was won by a mare who had just 1 win in her last 10 starts.

* The Woody Stephens was won by a horse who got beat 31+ lengths in the Kentucky Derby last out.

* The Manhatten was won by a French import who has never won a Group or Graded Stakes race before. He narrowly defeated a horse who was recently claimed.

* The Belmont was absent an I'll Have Another VS Bodemeister trilogy. Absent both horses.

And yet -- every single stakes winner on the card was VERY competitive on paper.

The only one of them that paid more than $9.20 to win was Desert Blanc.

But hey, over-the-top silly wins in 2012.

Just look at the championship boxing match tonight. The legendary Manny Pacquiao lands 253 punches -- Bradley lands 159 punches. Pacquiao's punches are clearly much more powerful. Bradley won the fight by split decision. Why? Because his trainer carried him on his shoulders after the fight and they acted like they won. Manny just acted like an honest fighter who did his routine work. One of the judges was a woman and the other judge is senile.

So hey, without a doubt, THIS WAS THE SINGLE GREATEST DAY IN THE HISTORY OF HORSE RACING OR SPORT IN GENERAL! Amaaaaaaaaazing!!!! All we need now is for someone to pick us up and carry us around on our shoulders.

Just like Bradley -- it was a great effort put on and it was fun to watch -- it just wasn't good enough to win though.

Thankfully, though, the judges in horse racing very rarely screw up an outcome -- or even come into play much at all.

Wait a minute.

Tapitsfly was extremely impressive today, regardless of anything else--you can say she got the right set up on the right turf surface, but she still has to go out there and run a highly superior race--it just doesn't happen automatically. This is a factor that is somehow frequently overlooked even by those who should know better.

And the horse beat 31+ lengths in the Derby had no business being there, as we all said at the time, including you, because he is a stone sprinter. I was amazed how he so readily overcame the idiocy of his connections in pushing him into the Derby. He just seemed to shrug it off and was not "ruined" as some feared.

So, chill.

Trinniberg was obviously the most likely winner of that race on paper and is a very good 3yo sprinter.

Tapitsfly is a nice turf filly as well.

I had a real great time at the track today and enjoyed myself. I met a few DT posters at the track. I enjoyed the racing.

However...this was not "magical" horse racing. I love horse racing -- but you have to be honest with yourself and call it like you see it.

This guy was jumping up and down and his trainer picked him up and carried him on his shoulders after the fight tonight ...




The other guy punched way harder and landed much more often. Only thing is, he lost.

What kind of world do we live in where professional boxing judges can't competently judge a fight... and Kasept -- who I like -- thinks this racing today was "magical" -- it wasn't.

The two of you oughta watch the recent syfy channel classic movie release, Jersey Shore Shark Attack.

It was awesome. A bunch of Joisey Wops vs red eyed albino bull sharks from the bottom of the ocean!

We live in a world where a high budget heavily marketed movie called "Abraham Lincoln -- Vampire Slayer" exists.

We live in a time where people use the Internet for crap instead of raping its valuable resources.

I never heard of Jersey Shore Shark Attack -- but I'm sure it's awesome.

You totally missed the point Doug which I guess I understand since you weren't there. Those that were anxious for the day to be spoiled had it shoved up their ass by an enthusiastic crowd that couldn't have been happier to be there. They ate, drank, bet their money and made the atmosphere as special as possible in lieu of the Triple Crown storyline.

Not according to Mr Sunshine #2

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/i-ll-ha...nt-stakes.html

forde is a doushe.

Who wanted the day spoiled?

The big NYC paper and PETA? The former just wants to impose their will to change the sport so they can pat themselves on the back. The latter is weird.

I've learned that Republicans and Democrats are not even political parties anymore. They are like the two sports teams with the two most myopic fanbases.

Just because one or two entities want to see failure to benefit their agenda -- doesn't mean those that don't like them should make it a Yankees VS Red Sox or Dem's VS Repub's.

To a fair judge -- reading stuff like "magical day of racing" and "intrepid human connections whom we revere and celebrate" and "had it shoved up their ass by an enthusiastic crowd" to describe yesterday is overblown hyperbole.

By the way...watch that fight from last night when you get a chance. Everyone is saying "boxing is now dead" and "RIP Boxing" on ESPN and in the press. That kid who won last night may have lost all 12 of those rounds -- but he fought a very brave and determined fight against a clear-cut superior fighter. He made the fight entertaining and worth the money. It's a shame he was getting so heavily boo'd by the crowd -- because he wasn't one of the guys scoring the fight.

Doug.. make no mistake, there are people out there working to destroy the sport and cheer its' ruination. The way people were walking around Friday after the SCR, there was a legitimate pall over the joint. Here's Hegarty's doom and gloom piece from Friday for example (http://www.drf.com/news/belmont-stak...-take-huge-hit).

I wrote what I wrote last night because I had as fun an afternoon at the track as I can recall. I wasn't referring to the action on the racetrack. The people who came made the day magical by belying what might have been a deflating experience. No one was grousing about paying top dollar for tickets and being denied the TC try. They made the most of it and it was infectious. And the atmosphere just flew in the face of the oafs (especially from the media side) that refuse to see anything but the negative. And after, the same buzz was carried over with a party of 40 for dinner that had the same great day.

Tina and I couldn't have had more fun yesterday and I wanted to convey to those that couldn't be there how worthwhile emotional investment in the game is for anyone that doubts. I guess that's what I do 7 days a week.

I've never read a Forde horse racing column before -- and I'm pretty sure he's a general sports columnist.

80, 90, 100 years ago -- horse racing had a lot of truly great writers covering it in both the DRF and in the mainstream press.

The DRF writers started to shift in about the 1950's from hard-hitting, opinionated, rumor-laden, bettor oriented writers -- to good writers who preferred human interest stories and sappy, syrupy, cutesy stuff.

They're a lot better now than in like the 70's -- but much less interesting than the guys from the 20's.

The big difference is that the mainstream press and general sports writers handled horse racing very competently a long time ago. Now, they don't. Most of them are clueless and know absolutely nothing about racing.

I hear what you're saying.

I had a great time yesterday as well watching the races from the track here and having my computer with me.

I'll Have Another VS Bodemeister round #3 with a triple crown on the line would have probably made the day less enjoyable for me. I wouldn't have been able to think about anything else without forcing it off my mind.

and the crescendo of negativity was well sprung by bob costa's hate piece interview with doug oneil who i must say handled the spanish inquisition like interrogation with skill and dignity
three cheers for all those that celebrate this great sport that offers something daily for die hard fans families and freshman alike
and now we can bask in anticipation of the spa and derby hopefuls

It was a good day of racing, but let's be honest about the big picture. Yes 88,000 showed up, but it would have been 120,000 so off 30%+. I suspect the off track wagering, and television numbers suffered similar fates. Good day- not so good weekend if you look at it from what was expected Thursday.

I had a great time. All you have to do is listen to 85k people cheer as horses turn for home and you realize that peoples raw expression of emotion for racing is only equaled in nature with Doug and his sox. Anyway only 3k of the people there realized the horses are slow as claimers and or that the horses are drugs to the gills. BTW its the same 3k people that know it 364 days a year. As you said it was a terriffic day and NYRA thats right NYRA deserves the credit for putting on a great show. They really do need to reburbish the place soon because it really needs it bad, while gorgeous Belmont needs an major overhaul.

Slow time or not, it was an exciting race when you knew JV had lots of horse and all he needed was to get through!


It's been great that the horses who ran in the Juvie are still around to compete in the Classics.

still a good showing when everyone knew no tc was on the line. and the finish was very exciting.

I'm with you Steve. From a day at the races standpoint, yesterday was totally awesome. I spent most of my time in the picnic area and paddock and the crowd was great.

I arrived expecting to find ample parking and folks with stacks of unused tickets outside the gate. Not so.

Not sure how much it means for racing or anything, but personally it was one of the more enjoyable Belmonts I have attended.

I think 95,000 to 100,000 would be a more likely guess. Smarty Jones' Belmont was a perfect blend of an undefeated horse, a small time owner/trainer/jockey and a geographically proximate fan base that could get to NYC via mass transit.

The great thing about yesterday was that so many people didn't change their plans after IHA scratched- they still went to the track. The joy and sense of fun was palpable.

Still didn't turn out to bad on-track.....

http://www.drf.com/news/2012-belmont...over-last-year

I wish NYRA would put in the effort to make JCGC day an event the way the Belmont is an event. The thing Belmont Stakes Day has going for the casual fan is that there's a lot of other stuff to do- merchandise tents, food options, cocktails. Belmont is so gorgeous in the fall; it would be nice to have a day in the Fall meet that is the same sort of celebration the Belmont Stakes is.

Especially the food options.

Dumb question I know....but how (and why) is Pat Forde writing about horse racing?

thats true..horseracing then is the nfl of now..

Yesterday was my first Belmont and while I was hoping to see history, I still had a very enjoyable time (despite maybe my worst day ever at the windows). It was crowded, but bearable. I thought that NYRA did a very good job. There were plenty of buses from the parking lot, plenty of tellers and opportunites to get food and drink all over the place. I don't recall waiting on line for anything yesterday. The only lines that I did see were from the woman's room and the ATM (which was literally 100 deep). No sure how I would have fared if the other 40k showed up, but I would have grinned and beared it. I'm not that keen on big crowds, but I wouldn't hesitate again to go to the Belmont.

But the thing that struck me the most, was the amount of young people that were there. I'm guessing that the Belmont and pretty much the rest of the TC series have become more of social events that happen to have horses race every 45 minutes. That being said, the atmosphere was excellent and the crowd really got in to the races.

It made me think that the sport does have a chance, but they really need to capitalize on days like yesterday. That's where I think that NYRA might have dropped the ball. They had large crowd on hand and there was no promotion (or at least I didn't see any) of any future event to try to get some of the patrons back. Like I said, there were tons of young people there. Schedule a concert on a sunset Friday, bring your stub next week on Father's Day and get free admission and a hat. Have a handicapping help station, where newbies can ask questions the whole day. Just do something that might want to make them come back before next year's Belmont and even better maybe they'll come back because they like the racing..

Because Forde has 6 months a year where he can't write atrocious college football/basketball articles. I think he wrote for the Louisville paper back in the day so somehow that qualifies him for horse racing.

Here is Sally Jenkins hack piece in the Wash Post from Friday. She writes the same crap article every year. Beyer almost has to write positive pieces this time of year to counter the nonsense in his own paper.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports...mOV_story.html

All complaining by everyone else aside, I was at work all day. In Louisiana no less. Then I had to go to a wedding while the Belmont was going off. I would have been very appreciative to have had any chance to enjoy Belmont day in any way. It sounds like Steve as well as many others took lemons and made lemonade. As for my situation, well, the way I see it I could have been worse. I could have been in Mississippi.:D

sitting at home watching on NBC even a cynic like myself was affected momentarily - when the horses left the paddock, they started panning shots of the crowd, threw in a great shot of the Statue of Liberty, the Belmont grandstand was draped in red, white and blue buntings, it was packed and the fans looked like they were having a blast - then best of all, when the good looking horses step foot onto the track, here comes the tape of Frank singing NEW YORK NEW YORK, perfect and CLASSIC, wish every day was Belmont Stakes day lol... okay back to reality, but truly it was nice, again just for the moment, if nothing else...

It was a thoroughly enjoyable day for horse racing, cheering on friends and favorites, and enjoying an exciting Belmont. Congrats to the connections :tro:

Spring, chance and precociousness is over, now we get to see which three-year-olds mature into something even more exciting over the next year.

This is Keeneland every weekend they race. You don't need a Triple Crown race to make this happen. The sport may not be magical but it is far from dead.

Paul

It's Saratoga also. The million dollar question is how to make it happen at more places. How do we convince everyone else what a great time our sport is to watch and participate in? How can we show them they are missing out if they aren't there?

I don't have the answer but it feels like educating them about the game further can only help. Horses racing longer, so people actually can follow a horses career for more than a few months will help.

That makes it really tough then as the sport is doing a great job on its own to destroy itself!

I think the bigger issues are the mechanics of the sport and not the product on the field, so to speak.

I think racing, at least on the weekends, needs to be more of a social event at the track. I don't mean "society," but social in that it's a place to hang out, and not solely for wagering. A day at the track is a long one and for the casual race fan, it's nice to be able to get up, walk around and look at things besides the tote board.

I don't know about other tracks, but the food options at Aqueduct and Belmont are awful. A six or eight-hour day out of the city when all you can order are bad burgers, fries and chicken fingers is a bit of a bummer.

My uncle, in his late 60s, spent his whole life in Pennsylvania, and he told me when he was younger, Penn National was so crowded on weekends that if you didn't arrive an hour before the first race, you'd be parking a mile from the track and walking. He also said they often had bands, etc. so the afternoon was as much about entertainment as it was gambling.

It may require racing associations to accept that the big gamblers are still likely to wager from their living rooms, but there is still value in casual fans, who may not be as valuable for gambling dollars, but who will spend money on concessions, souvenirs, and put money into the economy through their consumerism. And, of course, they'll still gamble.

What I love about racing (besides the fact that yes, horses are pretty) is that it's a far more interactive sport than any other. The gambling is the point- it makes the fan an active, not passive, viewer. But that's something that takes a while to discover and I think tracks need to take the effort to bring people who want an entertaining afternoon first, and trust they'll discover the fun in gambling eventually.

I think you have made some fair points here. I don't really disagree with any of them, but there are other food options at Aqueduct and Belmont and not just burgers, hot dogs and chicken fingers.

The only thing I will say about the casual fan thing is that yes, racing should be trying to get them involved. But horse racing is different than say football or baseball. Those sports need the fan to come out because they depend on the profit from the overpriced beer, souvenirs, etc. Racing depends on gambling dollars.