1986 Belmont Stakes

[Travis Stone]

I was surfing YouTube the other day and watched the ABC coverage of the 1986 Belmont Stakes.

They interviewed Bill Hartack, who was a steward at LAD before he died a few years ago, and he had a fairly interesting quote...

Rampage is another horse I think loves the distance of ground. Likes the mud, has run well in the mud. But five week layoff? It'd be a great, tremendous training job, if he wins.

That's 25 years ago... 5 weeks now the norm. Amazing.

Interview is first-up, then the race...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYRiLlGUEh8

[Thunder Gulch]

It's too bad the breed and the game have come to the point now where we can't get horses at the highest levels to race set schedules of more than 6 or 8 races in a year.