NYRA's Hayward goes out on a limb re Belmont field
 

NYRA president Charles Hayward is quoted by the Associated Press today saying "It's one of the stronger fields we've had in the three years I've been here". Quite a tribute--one of the stronger of three.

Maybe he was mis-quoted.

--Dunbar

I'll be honest, it's quite competitive. Certainly stronger than the also-rans behind Afleet Alex and the likes of Sunriver etc.

I'm going to hope he means that it's one of the stronger fields for any NYRA race since he's been there and not just one of the stronger Belmont fields. If he's saying it's one of the stronger Belmont fields, that's pretty stupid to say.

I'll go out on a limb and say he means in the Belmont.

Ok, so if he means it for the Belmont, do u agree with him? I mean, this will be his third Belmont and we know how weak the last two have been (with the exception of Afleet Alex) so do u agree with him that this is only ONE of the strongest of the three? It would make more sense if he had said this is THE strongest. By saying it's ONE of the strongest, he's saying one of the other two had to be stronger. Which one would u say was stronger?

I took it to mean Belmont Stakes fields, but KG's interpretation is certainly possible.

Here's the entire paragraph from the Associated Press story that ran in both my local papers (which in itself, is pretty amazing and a tribute to the Rags to Riches effect.)

"It's one of the stronger fields we've had in the three years I've been here," New York Racing Association president Charles Hayward said. "It's a compact field of seven but you have to give a lot of horses a shot. That makes it a great race with a very accomplished field."

I think it was just a verbal goof up. I've made my share of those. I only mentioned it because I thought it was an amusing one.

--Dunbar

I think this is paralysis by analysis. "One of the better" is merely a figure of speech for the fact that of his three years at NYRA, this is the strongest field he's seen.