Stars and Stripes Diaries: Fantastic Fourth

I love the Fourth of July: it’s not only the perfect time to celebrate all of the wonderful things about the United States, but it’s also a fantastic opportunity to watch some of the best horse racing of the summer with Belmont Park’s Stars and Stripes Day. I’m very lucky because Beautiful Belmont is just a short train ride away for me, so my Independence Day was spent at the picturesque Long Island track taking in the spectacular afternoon and enjoying some top-notch Thoroughbred action. 
When I arrived at the races, Belmont was bursting with American pride. I saw everything from a very tall Uncle Sam greeting fans to folks decked out to show their Fourth of July pride. Plus Food trucks – lots and lots of tempting, delicious food trucks. I love this country. 

I also ran into my friend Matt Amsterdam, who was wearing the most spectacularly fantastic patriotic pants that America has ever seen. 

Hero.
Even Sam the Bugler, the man who plays the “Call to the Post” before each race, wanted a photo with Matt! 

Despite a little bit of rain early on in the afternoon, the place was filled with fans out for a wonderful afternoon of sun and sport; and as we came to the first major race of the day, the Victory Ride, Belmont Park was packed.

The Victory Ride Stakes is a 6 1/2 furlong (a furlong, in horse racing parlance, is 1/8 of a mile; this sport is 350 years old in America, so there are some pretty anachronistic phrases in the Thoroughbred lexicon!) sprint for fillies three years of age. There were some seriously talented horses in this race, but it was Irish Jasper who was the easy victor after running just a little over three quarters of a mile.

She arrived back at the winner’s circle a little dirty but clearly very pleased with herself. Her jockey Javier Castellano and trainer Derek Ryan were pretty tickled, too! 

I was very excited for the next race, the Dwyer Stakes. The winner of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, Texas Red, was making his first start since February and I was so excited to see him. He’s a huge horse, and he always reminds me of a Thoroughbred from an old oil painting: there’s something regal about him, and I couldn’t wait to see how he ran.

He faced some pretty serious competition, though; there were some beautiful, athletic horses lined up to try to get a piece of the Dwyer Stakes’ $500,000 purse.

While Texas Red put up a wonderful fight, he couldn’t pass a determined Speightster in the stretch. These will be two horses to watch as we get closer to the Breeders’ Cup World Championships this October!

The next race was another thriller: the Belmont Derby. A test for three-year-old horses, the Belmont Derby is run at 1 1/4 miles on the turf course, and this year’s field had attracted nine tough competitors vying for its $1.25 million prize.  Excitement filled the air as the Thoroughbreds paraded in the ring and made their way to the starting gate.

Finally, it was race time; the horses sprang from the gate and into the stretch for the first time as the crowd behind us cheered from the grandstand.

After a mile and a quarter, it was Force the Pass all alone at the wire. The gorgeous chestnut colt took the Belmont Derby with ease, and jockey Joel Rosario was sure to exchange a fist-bump with the outrider in celebration of the victory. 

Up next was the Suburban Handicap, which featured one of my favorite horses (and last year’s Belmont Stakes winner) Tonalist. He’s just a stunning Thoroughbred and I spent a lot of my paddock time taking photos of him.

I thought he had a pretty good chance to win this race; but as the horses hurtled down the stretch and toward the finish line, it was Effinex who got his head in front of Tonalist at the wire to score in the Suburban. 

Jockey Junior Alvarado was clearly thrilled with the victory, and he and Effinex returned to the winner’s circle to waves of congratulations.

The next race was the highlight of the afternoon’s program: the Belmont Oaks. This race for three-year-old female horses (aka fillies) didn’t just boast a $1 million purse; the winner also earned a berth to the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf. This was enough to lure 14 talented fillies to the starting gate; and as the group sprang from their stalls and into the stretch for the first time, all eyes were on the favorite Lady Eli.

She was the favorite in the race, and with good reason: the stunning filly has never been bested, and she was the winner in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. 

And the Lady didn’t disappoint – when the 14 fillies turned for home, Lady Eli led the pack so convincingly that her jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. turned around to see where the rest of the filed was behind him.

After that, he and Lady Eli just cruised to victory in the Belmont Oaks, earning yet another win for the filly and securing her place in this year’s Breeders’ Cup in the fall.

As Lady Eli returned to the winner’s circle to get her photo taken, Irad Ortiz raised a fist to the heavens in celebration and gratitude for the pair’s win.

Lady Eli herself paused and posed to let the assembled photographers immortalize her image before she was joined by her owners to escort her down Belmont Park’s victory lane and into the winner’s circle.

The final race of the afternoon was the Belmont Sprint Championships, and its favorite was Private Zone. This gutsy gelding is one of the most consistent horses out there. If you see his name in the program, he’s probably going to finish pretty close to the front in whatever race he’s entered in. He’s six years old now, so he’s a familiar face to horse racing fans and is definitely a crowd favorite. He’s unmistakable in his signature blue-and-black striped blinkers (that’s the hood that horses wear: the piece of equipment helps a horse to focus by directing their eyes forward through the use of strategically placed cups behind their eyes.)

True to his form, Private Zone romped in the Belmont Sprint Championship, closing out the Stars and Stripes card by soaring underneath the American Flag all alone on his way to victory.

As Private Zone galloped past the grandstand after crossing the finish line, his jockey Martin Pedroza saluted the crowd in celebration. It was the perfect end to a fantastic Fourth of July at Belmont Park, and as I settled in on my train ride back to the city I reflected that there was no finer way for me to celebrate Independence Day than by spending a day enjoying America’s oldest and most thrilling sport.

Thank you as always for joining me, and I’ll be back tomorrow with another photo diary from Monmouth Park’s United Nations Stakes Day! I hope you all had a wonderful, safe, and happy Fourth of July, and let me know in the comments what your favorite part of Stars and Stripes Day at Belmont was!