My Last Belmont

[Kasept]

Feel badly for anyone that had a negative experience. I've been through every side of these days in racing attending more than 60 Crown events as a patron, foodservice vendor and media member. I've also been to Daytonas (and most of the stock car tracks), World Series, NCAA's, Stanley Cups, Eagles games (14 year season ticket holder at the Vet). Mostly good experiences. Several bad. A few scary.

I remember post-Smarty Jones being really rough. Got soaked in the teeming rain while stranded in the Blue lot and then the impossible trickle out to Plainfield Ave. Didn't get to Valley Stream (5 miles away) until 11:00 or so. Even on non-TC years, when involved on LIRR, the trains out were hit or miss. Some year better than others.

Tina and I stayed late in the building -- till about 9:30 -- and there was some residual backup out of the Blue lot. The infrastructure for egress from arenas/venues is terrible in many places. Anyone who has ever been to Foxboro can identify. I can also recall a scary subway platform crowding experience leaving Yankee Stadium after a Series game in 1978. I spilled out onto St. Catherine St. after the Canadians won the Cup in '93 and experienced the riot.

As for the experiences in-track, I guess when you've been to 25 Belmonts, including 10 as a vendor serving the public non-stop for 7+ hours, you know what to expect in terms of the difficulties. It's very rare that any venue handles that many without struggle. Some of the missed executions are 100% repairable and others are not when you get 100,000 there.

Most of the voiced frustrations are very understandable and will undoubtedly be addressed for requisite improvement. Some -- like the blog entry decrying $5 pretzels, brusque patrons and cigar smoke -- are less of a concern. You have a difficult balance to strike in terms of giving everyone an opportunity to come ($10 general admission) and pricing the place so that you can better manage a smaller turnout.