My Last Belmont

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by Linny

Recent history indicates that when the TC is on the line the crowd will be around 100,000 and that number ought to be the baseline used in figuring transit, food supply, rest room needs and parking.

That's what has me scratching my head- attendance for a Belmont Stakes in a TC year has been pretty consistent over the past couple of decades- it was just under 100,000 in the 1990s and has hovered just over 100,000 in the aughts and now the teens (I know Smarty's was reportedly 120,000, but I've also read articles questioning that number). They can make a pretty good guess as to how many will show up if there's a TC on the line; they have the data.

If 120,000 had shown up Saturday, I could understand them being understaffed, but the numbers were right in line with War Emblem, Funny Cide and Big Brown.