Belmont: a good race in any year

OPINION

Belmont Stakes entrant Hot Rod Charlie, front, takes a training run on the main track ahead of the 153rd running of the Belmont Stakes horse race, Wednesday, June 2, 2021, at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Belmont Stakes entrant Hot Rod Charlie, front, takes a training run on the main track ahead of the 153rd running of the Belmont Stakes horse race, Wednesday, June 2, 2021, at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Some years, the Belmont Stakes draws both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winners, best case being that one horse wins the first two legs of the Triple Crown.

Such was the case in 2015 with American Pharoah and 2018 with Justify, both among 13 horses to win both races. While the Belmont proved the last race for Justify, retired with a 6-0 record, American Pharoah returned to the spotlight, beating older horses in the Breeders' Cup Classic to restore his luster after a Travers Stakes slip-up. (Just me talking, but even in defeat American Pharoah ennobled himself greater than Secretariat in any of his 1973 losses when the first Triple Crown winner in a quarter century.

That's the dream scenario for any network covering the Belmont Stakes. Though neither won the last jewel, Smarty Jones (2004) and California Chrome (2014) so outshone the others that they dominated the network telecast. Silver Charm (1997) could not have been more gallant on his day, falling prey to the peek-a-boo ride Chris McCarron gave Touch Gold. And though no match for Empire Maker on a wet track, Funny Cide (2003) filled his Belmont with warm and fuzzy feelings.

That cannot be said for Big Brown (2008), who instead of validating his place in history put a "DNF" (did not finish) beside his name in the Test of the Champion.

Promoting the 153rd Belmont Stakes on Saturday, NBC's luck couldn't be much worse. Not only is no dual-classic winner entered, the cloud surrounding Medina Spirit's drug-tainted Kentucky Derby victory is sure to envelop the telecast.

With Naomi Osaka out of the French Open, one of the network's lead-in shows is minus its top draw. With the Triple Crown not on the line, ratings could be grim for the two-hour NBC telecast from Belmont Park, where I expect Long Island Railroad traffic to be modest compared to, say, California Chrome-day standards. Expect maximum plugs for the National Hockey League playoff game (Boston at N.Y. Islanders) to follow, much less for the Tokyo Olympics.

Terry Wallace, in his 37 years calling Oaklawn races, said this about scheduling: "We can tell you who's going to be in, say, the Arkansas Derby; we just can't guarantee who's going to be in it."

NBC had buzzard's luck in 2012 when I'll Have Another, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, was declared out of the Belmont on the eve of the race. Weeks of advance material by the talking heads on camera and those writing about it went out the window.

The COVID-19 pandemic offered a different spin on the June classic, leading off the series. Tiz the Law won the race, a popular victory for Funny Cide's connections, and thus whetted interest in the last two legs. Authentic's Kentucky Derby victory ended dreams of the Triple Crown, but if anything, the first October running of the Preakness proved especially grand with a rare filly (Swiss Skydiver) winner at Pimlico.

The true horse-racing fan (read that player, or bettor, if you will) will watch the Belmont anyway. Such has been true with me since 1964, when Quadrangle beat dual-classic winner Northern Dancer.

Secretariat took us to dizzying heights with his surpassing triumph in 1973, about which racing writer Steven Crist commented, "You're not supposed to win the Masters by 12 strokes (like Tiger Woods), score 100 points in a basketball game (Wilt Chamberlain) or win the Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths."

Trainer Bud Delp came up with the post-race excuse of the ages when Spectacular Bid, thought to be unbeatable, finished third in Coastal's Belmont (1979). Rather than toss jockey Ronnie Franklin under the bus for botching the pace, Delp said his superstar colt, who as a 4-year-old may have been the best horse ever to look through a bridle, stepped on a safety pin in his stall. (Yes, and dogs eat homework.)

For a while, Woody Stephens and the Belmont became joined at the hip, saddling the race winner five years in a row. The streak began in 1982 with Conquistador Cielo, who won the Met Mile on Monday before the race -- a sweep that would not be duplicated until Palace Malice won the 2013 Belmont and the 2014 Met.

Although a Kentuckian by birth, Stephens put on New York airs when reminding opposing trainers, "The buildings get a lot taller when you cross the Hudson." Another Woody-ism held that anyone not living in New York was "camping out."

Director Woody Allen loves New York more than any city, making it the subject of many of his films. In town for the 2014 Belmont, flying over the Manhattan skyline, "Rhapsody in Blue" pounding in my head, I thought of Woody's "Chapter One" soliloquy in "Manhattan," that New York "existed in black and white and pulsated to the show tunes of George Gershwin."

Most of what I know about New York comes from watching "Law & Order" episodes. As for horses in this year's Belmont, these are their stories.

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