Belmont, Triple Crown, Thoughts Comments and Questions

Can anybody tell me what happened during the first eighth of a mile in the Belmont Saturday? As the race started, ABC Television decided to use the camera at ground level in the winner’s circle to show the break. A more dramatic angle, perhaps, but it makes it difficult for the viewer to follow their horse. Then ABC decided to switch to a ground level head-on camera to shoot the field running into and around the first turn. Again, it made it nearly impossible to find or follow the horses until the overhead blimp camera picked up the field half-way around the clubhouse turn. I’m okay with ABC trying to utilize the beauty of the sport to create a more dramatic telecast. But I’m not okay with doing so at the expense of failing to report on the event by taking beauty over content in their camera angle selection.

Triple Crown Format Debate: Safety Over Tradition
Regarding changing the format of the Triple Crown: I agree with former jockey and current ESPN/ABC analyst Jerry Bailey. Limit the field size of the Kentucky Derby to 14 and offer a million or multi-million dollar bonus to a horse that wins the Triple Crown. Money talks, so the bonus will take care of itself. But the field size of the Derby needs to be reduced from 20 for a reason much more important than the Triple Crown – safety. Nobody likes the wagering opportunities and the romance of 20 horses breaking from the Churchill Downs starting on the first Saturday in May more than I. But that cavalry charge into the Clubhouse turn in the Derby is dangerous. And an accident there would be catastrophic to racing on many levels.

Moss and the Magic Board
I liked Randy Moss and his magic name board. It was an effective and fun way to bring horse names, facts and jockey changes into the telecast… I thought replacing “New York, New York” with “Empire State of Mind” as the official song of the Belmont Stakes would work. I thought I was wrong watching the ABC telecast that cut the song short with a break to commercial. But apparently the Belmont crowd corrected me. Again I bow to New York racing fans… A salute to trainer Kiaran McLaughlin who immediately took responsibility for Uptowncharlybrown losing his lead pad during the running of the Belmont. Uptowncharlybrown was disqualified from fifth and placed last by the track stewards immediately after it was learned he did not carry the assigned weight during the entire course of the race… Anybody notice that Jack Conway, recent winner of the democratic primary for the Kentucky U.S. Senate seat, was in the left side of the Belmont Park paddock while Sarah Palin was in the right side?

I’m Slow But I’m Sound
All source handle, attendance and television ratings all dropped significantly for the 142nd Belmont Stakes. Money wagered on the Belmont was nearly $74 million, down 17.2% according to Daily Racing Form. Attendance was down 13.2% to just more than 45,000 on a hot and humid day in New York while television ratings plummeted 38% to a 3.1 overnight rating… Drosselmeyer’s (photo right) winning time was the slowest Belmont in 15 years with his final clocking of 2:31.57 for 1-1/2 miles on a fast main track. Thunder Gulch finished in 2:32 in 1995… It is a mediocre group of 3-year-olds. Okay… I think of the character Jimmy Rabbitte in the 1991 Irish rock movie the “The Commitments” who said “the Northside Dubliners are the blacks of Dublin. So say it once, say it loud: I'm black and I'm proud.” To this much maligned group of sophomore thoroughbreds say it loud: “I’m slow. But I’m sound.” This group isn’t making any American Idol headway and their participation level is obviously weak with no Derby or Preakness winner in the Belmont, but other than Eskendereya, they’re not retiring either.

Decreases in Belmont numbers may be met with increases in Haskell Invitational, Travers Stakes, and Breeders’ Cup popularity. This group is not flashy, but they’re deep and relatively injury free. How many championship teams in other sports can you think of that have used that formula? They might even be deep enough to have a positive impact on minor late season derbies in the local markets of California, West Virginia and Louisiana.

Belmont Stakes Greatness Regardless
Onto the greatness of the Belmont regardless: It was just more than two Hall of Famers winning the Belmont in trainer Bill Mott and jockey Mike Smith. It was obvious that Smith was quite moved by his first Belmont win after riding in New York for the majority of his great career. Mott, despite his success as the trainer of Cigar and other greats, may be the most under rated trainer in thoroughbred racing today.

Betting Strategy Revisited
I had the right idea but the wrong horse. Keep the favorites in the top two of my exactas and find that mid-level long shot to take the race. I mistakenly got on Uptowncharlybrown and Interactif and left off a horse that I liked all Spring – Drosselmeyer. And I’m not sure I regret too much getting off a horse with published foot ailments, a jockey change and the owners deciding not to attend the race… But a big Brock Talk acknowledgement to those that hit the $144.50 exacta, $766.50 trifecta or $10,658.00 superfecta.

For those that thought the Belmont Stakes would not be exciting… Whoops!

A Special Tweet For Racing Fans

One of the spotlight races this weekend is the grade 1 Eddie Read Handicap at Del Mar. The $350,000 Read is 1-1/8 miles on the turf and is the premier turf race for older horses at the meeting.

But this weekend, I thought I would introduce some of you to perhaps a new way to learn about a horse race.

As most of you know, I Tweet. That is I have a Twitter account - user name: thebrocktalk. Yes, I send and read those 140-character messages throughout the day. And I fully admit that it took me awhile to appreciate it but I was compelled to give it try. Even now I know I don't fully understand all of it's benefits. But the benefits I have found I think are well worth the learning curve of a then 49-year-old maiden claimer in the tweeting ranks.

So let me introduce you to the tweets of Randy Moss (photo), the ESPN analyst who just began tweeting from Del Mar. He can be found at www.twitter.com/randy_moss_tv. These were Friday tweets:

-Joe Talamo replaces injured Rafael Bejarano on Artiste Royal in Eddie Read
about 1 pm PDT

-Still mixing racing & NFL at Del Mar. Mike Tice yesterday and ran into Norv Turner this morning. He's racing fan and headed to track today
about noon PDT

-Bob Baffert bought Richard's Kid for synthetic/turf, entered Eddie Read after good grass work. Blinkers added to "keep him a little closer"
about noon PDT

-For what it's worth: trainer John Sadler told us Whatsthescript is coming up to Sat "just as good and maybe a little better" than last year
about noon PDT

-Sounds like a good old-fashioned barn burner to me. Which would seem to be a perfect scenario for Whatsthescript's stretch-running style
2:31 pm July 23rd

-Mike Mitchell on Thorn Song sitting "length and a half" off pace. He said, "We're not giving ( Jazz) that much. Maybe a half length. Maybe."
2:31 pm July 23rd

-Craig Dollase, trainer of Monterey Jazz: "He's a very fast horse and he's on his game. If anyone wants to go with him early, good luck."
2:27 pm Jul 23rd

-Speed duel in Eddie Read between Monterey Jazz and Thorn Song? Made barn rounds this morning and talked to both trainers of both horses.
12:26 pm Jul 23rd

So now we know a little more about how Moss feels about the Eddie Read and a little more about how he prepares for a telecast as the Read will be shown on ESPN2 Saturday at 8pm Eastern. That was also tweeted earlier by Moss. During the day, Moss also gave his thoughts on the opening day crowd (without any references to attendance figures I might add), Brett Favre, other NFL topics including somebody that thought he was the "other" Randy Moss, and updated jockey Rafael Bejarano's condition.

Other tweeters I like to follow are of course Blood-Horse (BloodHorse) and Thoroughbred Times (TTimes) who both tweet updates throughout the day on news that has just crossed their desks. They were also both fun to follow during the recent Fasig-Tipton Kentucky select yearling auction as they tweeted top sellers just moments after the gavel fell as well as information about under-bidders, trainers in attendance, weanling sale prices and more.

Another tweet from Blood-Horse looked like this at around 6 pm eastern Friday.
Mine That Bird Arrives at Mountaineer http://bit.ly/OqAiB.

Both publications also provide stallion news, maiden race developments, stakes previews and a whole host of other racing topics throughout the day.

Another great tweeter is Alex Brown (photo) who tweets under AlexBrownRacing and tweets about everything from his activity as a Woodbine exercise rider to his cause against horse slaughter to jockey Ramon Dominguez getting his record 93rd winner of the Belmont meet. Brown is a prominent voice in the blogging, tweeting, facebooking world of thoroughbred racing and is a good model for those newcommers to the next information level.

Following Ray Paulick on Twitter can also be quite interesting. Not only does he provide updates to his excellent blog The Paulick Report, but Paulick also tweets live from major horse racing events and functions throughout the year. His tweets during the Kentucky Derby trainers' dinner were fun and interesting as he provided followers with the quips being traded back and forth between Bob Baffert and Master of Ceremonies Chris Lincoln and others.

So before you completely dismiss the idea of ever being on Twitter, just think about what you may be missing about horse racing. And if you're anywhere near within the realm of the typical horse racing fan psychographics, you don't like it when somebody knows more than you.