Belmont Diaries: Fantastic Friday

I always love the Friday before the Belmont Stakes, but when there’s a Triple Crown on the line there’s no place like being at the track on the eve of the Test of the Champion. Racing fans, media, celebrities and Thoroughbred industry superstars all converge on the Belmont Park with the hope of witnessing history, and there’s an electric anticipation in the air that’s unparalleled.
My day started out in what’s become the typical fashion for me this week: on the Long Island Rail Road. Since it was way too early for the special trains that go straight to the track, I always take the railroad to Floral Park, then it’s just a quick cab ride to the track. I did this on Friday morning, and even made friends with a fellow early-bird racing fan on my way there.
I got to Belmont just in time to see Belmont Stakes hopeful Keen Ice training; he’s a longshot in Saturday’s race, but to me he looked very fit and eager as he galloped around the oval. He will have to put in the performance of a lifetime to win the Belmont Stakes, but he certainly looks like a Thoroughbred who’s ready to try.

After he had taken a lap around “Big Sandy” (the nickname for Belmont Park’s large main track), Keen Ice headed into the paddock to cool off and familiarize himself with that environment before the Belmont Stakes.

As I took photos of him, I heard Keen Ice’s trainer, Dale Romans, remark that he would be absolutely fine with making 90,000 people angry the next day — sounds like he has some confidence in his horse!
After that, I had to hustle off to the photographers’ meeting. Because it’s such a big race, there’s a lot of media in town who don’t normally cover horse racing. That means that Keith Klein, the photographers’ patron saint of huge horse racing events, laid out all of the rules for shooting at the track and fielded questions from the group. It was an incredibly crowded meeting, and I think that there were more photographers there this year than I’ve ever seen at the Belmont before.

After that, it was time for the races to begin. The second race of the day was named in honor of two journalists who won the Joe Hirsch Memorial Writing Award: Alicia Wincze-Hughes and Tom Law. They’re both incredible talents, and I was beyond thrilled to see them honored at Belmont Park.

As the first big race of the afternoon approached, Belmont Park started to grow more crowded with fans and racing professionals.

I was very excited to see retired National Hockey League star and NBC commentator Eddie Olczyk there; he’s a huge horse racing fan as well as a Chicago legend.

I also saw one of the Belmont Stakes’ surprise stars: Smokey the pony horse. He’s become a bit of an Internet sensation in the weeks leading up to the Belmont Stakes, since he’s usually found right next to American Pharoah; so it’s always fun to see him alone and in the limelight! When he’s not escorting the potential next Triple Crown winner around, Smokey carries Donna Barton-Brothers as she interviews jockeys after the races for NBC. From the expression on his face, he really enjoys it!

It was then time for the first major race of the day to begin: the Jersey Girl Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. I headed to the saddling paddock and noticed that the iconic Secretariat statue was blanketed by a garland of carnations, the signature flower of the Belmont Stakes.

The fillies circled the paddock as trainers and jockeys exchanged last-minute words, then headed out to the racetrack to compete for the $150,000 purse. After three-quarters of a mile, Cavorting put her challengers away to win for owner Stonestreet Stables, trainer Kiaran Mclaughlin and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr.

The next big race of the day was the Tremont Stakes; this is a race for two-year-old horses, so you never know if you’re going to see next year’s Belmont Stakes winner in the field! There were several very impressive-looking horses in the field, but Uncle Vinny won my heart when he made this face in the paddock:

We’ve all made that face at one point or another in our lives.
In the stretch of the 5 ½-furlong race (a furlong is an eighth of a mile, and is horse racing’s way of measuring distance because sometimes we like to speak in code), Cocked and Loaded was all heart to get his nose in front of Paynes Prairie to win the Tremont.

When it was time for the True North Stakes, I boogied to the paddock double-time because I really wanted to see Clearly Now. See, when I look at this horse, I immediately think things like, “Black Stallion” and “Black Beauty” and “maybe I should buy a racehorse” and all sorts of fun things. He’s awfully pretty.

While Clearly Now may win the race for my adoration, it was all Rock Fall in the True North Stakes, scoring the victory with ease for owner Stonestreet Stables.

The next big race was the one I was most excited for on Friday, the New York Stakes. The reason I was so whizzed up was because one of my favorite mares, Stephanie’s Kitten, was running. Stephanie, you see, has two major situations going on: her ears and her tongue. Both are very long; but while her ears are graceful and elegant, her tongue is constantly hanging out of her mouth in a marvelous impression of a bulldog. Naturally, I love her so much.

Isn’t she wonderful? Of course, aside from her amazing idiosyncrasies, Stephanie’s Kitten is also a tremendously accomplished racehorse: she’s earned more than a million dollars in her career thus far and shows no signs of slowing down. Naturally, a horse of this caliber attracts a lot of attention, and I’m here to tell you that a few of the photographers on hand at Belmont were *serious* about getting a shot of her as she and her fellow New York Stakes runners emerged out of the starting gate:

I stayed on my feet but also focused on the gate as the horses broke out and began their run down the stretch for the first time.

Stephanie’s Kitten tried her hardest, but the race was positively stolen by Waltzing Matilda, who scored at odds of 22-to-1.

Her connections were so happy, and Waltzing Matilda returned to the winner’s circle as the recipient of lots of pats, hugs and smiles from her humans.

The final race of the day was also the longest: the Belmont Gold Cup Invitational Stakes. It’s a two-mile race, which is unusually long in America; but plenty of horses showed up to try for a piece of the $250,000 purse. I was having a hard time deciding who I liked until I saw the silks on Tattenham. They’re amazing:

From what I understand, Tattenham’s owner loves his dog Waldorf so much that he didn’t just put the pooch’s face on his silks but named his entire racing stable after his beloved hound. I need to find this person and learn their ways, because that is my idea of living your best life.
Anyway, back to the race! As I mentioned, the Belmont Gold Cup Invitational is a very long race, so as the horses swept past us for the first time I was fascinated to see who would win this test of endurance.

After two tough miles, it was Innovation Economy who outlasted Unitarian to take home the victory.

With that, the day of racing at Belmont Park drew to a close; but the party was just warming up as Of a Revolution took the stage to play for fans as the sun went down.

I’ve been a fan of O.A.R. since college, so it was so much fun for me to see them at one of my home racetracks! I wasn’t the only one excited to see them at Belmont: a huge crowd surrounded the stage, singing and dancing as the band played into the night.

What a perfect way to kick off Belmont Stakes weekend! I couldn’t be more excited for Saturday’s races, and I thank you so much for joining me for all of the Friday fun at Belmont Park!