Despite the Differences, It's Still the Belmont Stakes

On a typical day in New York, horse racing takes place in the background of a city of more than eight million people and can easily be overlooked.

With a wealth of professional and amateur sports to choose from, it usually takes something highly special, such as a Triple Crown bid, to divert sports fans' attention from games at Yankee Stadium or Citi Field.

And even then, there's a rather short attention span.

The 152nd edition of the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) will not face that problem.

It is the only show in town. It's the first major national sporting event in the Big Apple since March 12 when the COVID-19 pandemic brought an abrupt end to the Big East men's basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden. 

About a week or so later, New York City began to shut down as the spread of the coronavirus caused more deaths than in any other state in the nation. 

Though social distancing, face masks, and safety protocols have worked to slow the spread of the virus, the city's professional sports teams such as the Rangers, Islanders, Nets, Yankees, and Mets have yet to either resume or start their seasons.

So when horse racing ended an 80-day hiatus and Belmont Park opened June 3, the Sport of Kings—and Queens, N.Y.—had the stage to itself in the Big Apple.

That will still hold true June 20 when the $1 million Belmont Stakes is contested at Belmont Park and the racing community can thump its chest about bringing back an important national sporting event to the City That Never Sleeps—even if there will be no fans in attendance, just essential personnel, due to the pandemic.

"We'll be the first major sporting event in New York since the pandemic, so we're excited," New York Racing Association CEO and president David O'Rourke said. "We're having fun with what we got."

What NYRA has this year is a Belmont Stakes that's basically upside down, yet the same. That may be confusing, but it's par for the course in 2020.

Instead of being the last of the Triple Crown races, now, for the first time, it will be the leadoff hitter, with the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) shifted to Sept. 5 and the Preakness Stakes (G1) scheduled for Oct. 3. Normally it's the longest of the three classics, but now it is the shortest with a scaled-back 1 1/8-mile distance instead of its normal 1 1/2-mile challenge.

When the June 20 date for the Belmont Stakes was announced May 19, there was a great sense of anticipation for the race. That day, Jack Knowlton, the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, which owns the multiple grade 1-winning 3-year-old Tiz the Law, called it the "Belmont Derby."

"It's the Belmont Derby. This is, in many ways, the Kentucky Derby because you will have the best horses running in this race who typically would not meet until the Kentucky Derby," Knowlton said a month ago. "You will have a whole lot of good horses facing each other for the first time. The excitement you have for the Kentucky Derby, you will have for the Belmont Stakes."

And at first that seemed completely plausible, until the event reverted back to the Belmont Stakes because of a couple of key factors.

Two months ago, with only a handful of tracks open, stakes for 3-year-olds were standing-room-only events—as far as starters go. A field of 12 was originally entered in the Feb. 29 Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2), and 22 entries forced the May 2 Arkansas Derby (G1) to be split into two divisions. So when the date for the Belmont Stakes was announced, it seemed logical to wonder how the race would handle an overflow field.

Yet with the Belmont Stakes a day away, it has become apparent that even if it occupies the spot in the Triple Crown rotation that normally belongs to the Kentucky Derby, the Test of the Champion cannot match the magnetism of the Run for the Roses. 

While horsemen need little prodding to enter a horse in the Kentucky Derby and fill 20 spots in the starting gate, the field for the Belmont Stakes teetered between eight or nine early this week and wound up with 10—and just one grade 1 winner among them—when entries were taken June 17, well below the maximum of 16 starters.

"No, it doesn't feel like the Belmont Stakes at all. There's a different feeling," said trainer Todd Pletcher, a three-time Belmont Stakes winner who will send out St. Elias Stable's Dr Post and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Chrysalis Stables, and Robert LaPenta's Farmington Road. "We're excited about the race and excited about two horses who are coming into it in good form. In its traditional spot, especially when there's a Triple Crown on the line, I think there's no more exciting moment in sports. But there's a different feel as the first one in the Triple Crown series. This has certainly been a year with a lot of changes to it."

What changed for the Belmont Stakes involved a combination of factors, starting with injuries. 

In early May, when the Triple Crown was supposed to begin, it seemed a foregone conclusion that trainer Bob Baffert would cast a large shadow over the race, but his two undefeated Arkansas Derby winners, Nadal and then Charlatan, suffered injuries, and he will sit out the race. 

Even the connections of Honor A. P. and the Baffert-trained Authentic opted to stay in California and run 1-2 in the June 6 Runhappy Santa Anita Derby (G1) instead of shipping east for a crack at Triple Crown glory.

Another grade 1 winner, Godolphin's Maxfield, is also sidelined with a recent injury. Yet one day before that injury occurred, it had been announced that Maxfield would not run in the Belmont Stakes. His connections opted to race in the July 11 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G2) at Keeneland so that the 3-year-old, whose lone 2020 start was a victory in the May 23 Matt Winn Stakes (G3), could point toward the Kentucky Derby.

What happened next was another blow to the Belmont. Gouverneur Morris, who was being pointed to the race by Pletcher, was re-routed to the Blue Grass by the ownership group of Team Valor International and WinStar Farm in a telling move.

Barry Irwin, the founder and CEO of Team Valor, said the decision to skip a Triple Crown race in favor of a grade 2 stakes came down to the better odds of winning. The connections opted for a $600,000 race without a standout than try a grade 1 classic with a $1 million purse and a highly formidable favorite.

"If Maxfield was not hurt, we would have run in the Belmont Stakes," Irwin said. "We couldn't win either race, and would you rather run second or third in a grade 1 or a grade 2?

"There's other opportunities out there. Even though it's the Belmont Stakes, it's not the Belmont Stakes. Whatever prestige that would have come from it, that little extra something that makes you run in a race like that is lacking this year. If your goal is to get into the Kentucky Derby, why do you want to get your socks knocked off by Tiz the Law when you can go elsewhere?"

Aside from swaying Gouverneur Morris, all those other options, such as the July 8 Indiana Derby (G3), the Blue Grass Stakes, and July 18 TVG.com Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1), enticed the likes of Ny Traffic, Ete Indien, Shivaree, and Basin to avoid the Belmont Stakes.

While in some years there might a couple of overmatched starters in a Triple Crown race, especially in the Kentucky Derby, Irwin said being unable to be on hand for the race and enjoy the excitement and electricity of the day also might have caused some horsemen to find less ambitious spots for their horses.

"I think racing changed after 9/11," Irwin said. "Before that, you got the odd guy that people would laugh at for entering a horse in the Kentucky Derby. My feeling is 9/11 made people realize their own mortality, and whether it was conscious or subconsciously, they said to themselves that no one knows how long they'll live, and if they have any chance to fill out one of their bucket list items by running in a major race, they are going to do it. That's why there are so many crazy horses in the Kentucky Derby and people play games to get there.

"It's a uniquely American thing. If the race wasn't on television, no one would care. It's an ego thing, and what hurts the Belmont is that with no one allowed to be at the race, you can't satisfy your ego sitting at home in your living room.

"We're finding out this year is about survival and being in action. If you have the best horse, you're going to still win some races. If you don't have the best horse, you have to make due."

With just two winners of a grade 1 or grade 2 stakes, the Belmont Stakes lacks the deep array of talent usually found in the Kentucky Derby, and one big reason for staying away can be found in the 3-year-old who fits the description of "the best horse."

In Tiz the Law, trained by Barclay Tagg, the Belmont Stakes has a star befitting the opening leg of the Triple Crown in any year. A winner of four of five starts, including the 2019 Champagne Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park, the New York-bred son of Constitution  has been heads and shoulders the best in his two starts at 3, winning the Holy Bull Stakes (G3) by three lengths and the March 28 Curlin Florida Derby (G1) by 4 1/4 lengths in his most recent start.

"Tiz the Law has been dominant," Irwin said. "He's a really good horse. He's got a great style. He's just got it. He's a legitimate Kentucky Derby favorite. People have tried him and not gotten the results they wanted."

Though Tiz the Law has not raced in 12 weeks, his training has progressed in the kind of fashion that leads to grandiose thoughts and 6-5 morning-line odds that could shrink by Saturday's 5:42 p.m. ET post time (NBC).

"I've never seen Barclay happier or more confident in my life. He feels really, really good about this horse," said Knowlton, whose stable teamed with Tagg to win the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness and finish third in the Belmont Stakes with the New York-bred gelding Funny Cide. "If anybody can have him ready for this race, it's Barclay. You look at the works, and Tiz the Law seems to be doing everything we want him to do."

Among the competition, grade 2 winner Modernist, owned by Pam and Martin Wygod, is listed at 15-1 on the morning line. The second and fourth choices—Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and Andie Biancone's grade 3 winner Sole Volante (9-2) and Live Oak Plantation's Tap It to Win (6-1), respectively—are both coming off allowance-level victories. Winchell Thoroughbreds' Pneumatic (8-1) was a solid third behind Maxfield in the Matt Winn Stakes, and Dr Post (5-1) showed promise in overcoming a troubled trip to win the Unbridled Stakes, but each of them has just three starts to his credit, none above a grade 3.

In contrast, Tiz the Law, the No. 1 choice in the most recent National Thoroughbred Racing Association Top 3-Year-Old Poll, has as many graded stakes wins (three) as the rest of the field combined and, though breaking from post 8 with Manny Franco, should be well suited for the one-turn race.

"It's not without possibility that he could sweep them," Knowlton said about the Triple Crown. "We don't know how good he is. I don't think we've even come close to the bottom of him. 'Tiz' has every reason to develop and become even better."

That's quite a thought, and if Tiz the Law does become the 14th Triple Crown winner, it will certainly lead to more questions than answers. Some observers will point to the shorter distance of the Belmont Stakes and the longer spacing between races to hang an asterisk on the accomplishment.

Yet from another viewpoint, preparing a horse for the Triple Crown during a pandemic and then keeping a horse at top form during the 11 weeks between Saturday and Sept. 5, and then another four weeks between the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, just might be a more difficult proposition than winning three races in five weeks.

"In many ways, it's harder this way, having to win races from June to October," Knowlton said. "If he does what we want him to do, and I'm not saying he will, and he wins the Belmont, the (Aug. 8 Travers, G1), the Kentucky Derby, and the Preakness and runs that gauntlet, that to me is pretty darn impressive."

That word—impressive—brings the 2020 Belmont Stakes full circle. Even with a plethora of changes, the race is basically shaping up no different than many editions during the past 50 years. There's a standout favorite who is scaring off rivals—the essence of what often happens in the Belmont Stakes when one or two horses dominate the first two legs of the series.

It's a familiar scenario for an early June edition of the Belmont that closes the Triple Crown, and apparently even a two-week delay and a different distance and spot in the Triple Crown cannot change what took 152 years to create.

"It's not the Kentucky Derby, but at this time of year, it's the closest thing we have to the Kentucky Derby," said Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners founder and president Aron Wellman, who teamed with LaPenta and Bridlewood Farm to win the 2017 Belmont Stakes with the Pletcher-trained Tapwrit . "Some people are getting Derby Fever and itching for a classic opportunity and that adrenaline rush we've all been missing while racing has been on a hiatus.

"It doesn't feel like the Belmont Stakes. I'd be lying if I said it did, but that being said, I think the Belmont Stakes is still the Belmont Stakes."

Isn't it always?