Belmont Stakes Day

On the eve of the Belmont Stakes, 4 inches of rain from Tropical Storm Whatsit saturated Long Island generally and Elmont, New York particularly (yes, you read that correctly - Belmont Park is located in Elmont, New York).  My own busy schedule (including the Reds game the night before the Belmont Stakes) precluded any opportunity for handicapping the third jewel in the Tripe Crown in advance.  That, and the impact all that rain in New York was having wouldn't be fully realized until dawn of Belmont Stakes Day.  So, why bother trying to handicap 24 hours before?

When dawn broke over southwestern Ohio a week ago Saturday, I fired up my battalion of media devices for the latest news from "Big Sandy," as Belmont Park is often referred to (descriptive of the main track surface).  The main track was listed as MUDDY, the turf as YIELDING but the rain had let up and a partly sunny, breezy day was on tap.  I reviewed the pertinent commentary from Daily Racing Form and Blood-Horse, devoured a couple of donuts and jumped into my Jeep and headed for the rendezvous point where I was ordered to pick up The Old Master of the Turf, at his Fairfield command post.  Following our mostly profitable by unsatisfying experience on Derby Day in Turfway Park's Homestretch Room (the buffet was disappointing and The Old Master of the Turf had some ancillary gripes about the quality of help working the betting windows and the evident disregard by management for cleanliness in the restroom), we found ourselves back in familiar territory, Turfway Park's Players Row.  

Or so we thought.  

Upon arriving at the usual check-in for seating in Player's Row, we were informed that our tickets were for the "new," smoke-free, Player's Row on the opposite side of the building.  Smoke-free should appear in quotes as well, as the ground floor where both old and new Player's Rows alike are located is an open floor plan.  As one may guess, the air can get thick with smoke from Kentucky's tobacco industry patrons no matter what the No Smoking placard affixed to our reserved seats might suggest.  We were escorted to our private row of seven seats.  Illustrative of The Old Master's expectation of a Triple Crown following Orb's stirring victory in the Kentucky Derby, he brought up an entire row of (seven) seats with the expectation that he, I, Lou and four of The Old Master's cosa nostra of old-time horse playing pals would jump at the chance to have a seat to watch and wager on Orb's attempt at Triple Crown immortality. However, with Orb's fourth-place finish in the Preakness Stakes the air had deflated from that balloon and Belmont Stakes Day found The Old Master and me.... by our selves.  Lou had a mountain of work to tackle and as for the cosa nostra, well, who knows?  The siren song of exotic pari-mutuel wagering is a powerful force and eventually one veteran member in good standing in the cosa nostra, nicknamed "Buck," did join us.  Our row of seats was nearly half-filled and The Old Master must have been quietly disappointed that he'd laid out the cash for so many unoccupied seats.  We were assigned Row A in the new and improved [?] Players Row, which simply meant that immediately beyond my flatscreen (yet somehow still Low-Def) monitor, I was looking at a wall.  Here was my perspective on Belmont Day:

I rarely pass up the opportunity to acquire a copy of the DRF for my efforts at handicapping but in light of the miserable track conditions and my general unfamiliarity with that day's undercard I had no intention of intensive wagering [read: high-dollar].  As such, I satisfied myself with a simple program from which to crunch the field.  Here, below, I captured The Old Master - sporting his t-shirt from the 2004 Breeders' Cup (held that year at Lone Star Park in the former Republic of Texas; The Old Master in attendance that day) intently studying the race program, his Daily Racing Form laying unattended at the moment:

Next, the unflattering program's-eye-view of Mr Heavy Artillery:

I began near the back of the program, with the Belmont Stakes itself, and then worked backwards from there.  Veteran horseplayers will instantly discern my strategy here; I was handicapping my eventual Pick 6 wager (this is done in the event I run out of time formulating my Pick 6 wager, I still would have had a chance to look over the biggest/best races of the day).  I had no interest in the five Maiden races that began the day of racing at Belmont and so rather I focused my efforts on the Stakes races which made up the latter portions of the race day (as well as the Pick 6 and Late Pick 4).

The Old Master related a phone call he'd received from Turfway Park in the days before the Belmont, asking if he'd like to have a table in the Homestretch Room and, curiously, with the option of ordering food off a menu rather than grazing from the buffet.  The Old Master of the Turf suspects Turfway received a number of complaints about the unsatisfactory Derby Day experience and were making an attempt at rectifying the situation.  We each made a couple of reconnaissance missions throughout the afternoon to spy on the usually full Homestretch Room and, perhaps unsurprisingly, we never observed it more than one-quarter occupied.  In light of the Commonwealth of Kentucky's Republican-led legislative intransigence on the matter of casino gambling at its racetracks (an issue strongly - and wisely - supported by Kentucky's Democratic Governor Bashear; what is this?  "Opposite Day?"), a development that has been embraced, regionally, by Indiana, West Virginia and now - most recently - by Ohio, most of Kentucky's smaller racetracks are getting squeezed (excluding, of course, Churchill Downs and Keeenland) by the avalanche of so-called racinos and casinos.  Add to this mix the tangentially-related development of the Horseshoe Casino in downtown Cincinnati and the resulting steep decline of patronage of Indiana's three tri-state area Casinos compounded by progress on the revitalization of Cincinnati's River Downs (which will have casino gambling) and the construction of a new racino just up I-75 in Monroe, Ohio to replace the decrepit Lebanon Raceway and one seriously doubts the long-term viability of venerable Turfway Park.  I speculated with The Old Master that, due to these shifts in gambling opportunities and the obvious decline in the services and experiences, Turfway Park may not exist five years from now.  Neighboring CVG has, for decades, wanted the land that Turfway sits on for both expansion of runways but also as direct access from I-75.

Now, back to the action!

With Lou absent and The Old Master handicapping race-by-race I was left to my own devices crafting a Pick 6 to be funded entirely by myself.  Which necessitated a limited ticket.  That accomplished, it was time for lunch!

The Lunch of Champions; cheeseburger and french fries.  Don't laugh.  Turfway Park makes a fantastic half-pound cheeseburger and the fries are a golden crunchy delight.

Meanwhile, "Buck" let us know he was sitting on a live Early Pick 4 ticket with just one race remaining.  For the concluding leg of his Early Pick 4, he had two horses; the favorite and a longshot.  The will-pays, as they are referred to, were $9,000 if the favorite won, $36,000 if his longshot were to be victorious.  Surreptitiously, I deployed my Android's video capabilities to film "Buck" in the event he scored.  The race's favorite didn't fire and was a non-factor but turning for home "Buck's" $36,000 longshot was second and vigorously challenging the leader.  Alas, "Buck's" longshot couldn't overcome the eventual winner and finished a valiant - if unprofitable - second for "Buck."  The video I shot will never see the light of day. I know how "Buck" felt.  Back in the 1990s I was photo-finished out of a $20,000 Breeders' Cup Superfecta when, after an agonizing and interminable delay, my fourth and final horse was photo-finished into fifth.  Crushing. 

My paltry $24 Pick 6 ran aground immediately.  I loaded up the front end of my Pick 6 with three horses, the best of which - named Micromanage - finished second.  Even more maddening, I should have had both a live Pick 6 ticket AND the winning Exacta, neither of which I claimed.  In the minutes leading up to the start of the race which would begin the Pick 6, I opined to The Old Master and "Buck" my thoughts on the two best horses in the field and that, even the track condition withstanding (by this time upgraded from MUDDY to GOOD), they would finish the race 1-2.  They did, and the Exacta paid $48.80.  Upon conclusion of this race, my The Old Master and "Buck" congratulated me on my insight and asked how may times did you have it? [read: how much I wagered].  I didn't.  Here we go again.  Right horses, wrong wagers.  In fact, the horse that won, Power Broker, I had also left out of the combination of three horses which I included on the first leg of my Pick 6.

My prospects at a consolation payout on the Pick Six improved when, in the next race, I cashed the winning Exacta ($23.60) in a sprint race headed by Fast Bullet, brother to one of my favorite sprinters named Fatal Bullet.  2nd Amendment queasiness from my Liberal pals aside, those are great names for incredibly swift sprinters.  If I have any thing resembling a forte in handicapping, it's sprint races.

1-for-2 to begin my minimalist Pick 6, I was soon back on shaky ground as, for the third leg, I had singled but one horse; the 11-1 longest shot in the field on a YIELDING turf course, Better Lucky.  Better Lucky was sired by another all-time favorite of mine, the incredibly fast and now Hall of Famer Ghostzapper. Ghostzapper won the 2004 Breeders' Cup Classic wire-to-wire and I'd had a big Win bet him him that day (that '04 BC Classic was a great race, as it should be, with a strong field including a previous Derby winner [Funnycide] and Belmont Winner [Birdstone] and BC Classic winner [Pleasantly Perfect], a phenomenal filly [Azeri] and won by Ghostzapper in a blistering time).  Plus, with The Old Master of the Turf wearing his 2004 BC t-shirt, how could this pick miss?  It almost didn't.  Approaching the wire, Better Lucky and Stephanie's Kitten, the 5-2 morning line favorite, were nose-to-nose.  The last flash on the Tote Board before going dark - is as customary right before the finish - had Better Lucky in the lead.  Stephanie's Kitten won out over Better Lucky and with it sent my Pick 6 to the murky depths of destruction.

Better Lucky paid me $9.60 to Place, so that helped ease the sting.  A little.

After this race, the main track was upgraded to FAST (the turf remained YIELDING all day). I'd spent the morning and early afternoon handicapping for an "off" track at Belmont so this change required some revisionism of my early work.

My pick in the following race finished second.  If you have detected a pattern here, don't spoil it for the others just yet.

Race 10 was the 112th running of the Woodford Reserve Manhattan, Grade I on the turf.  On Derby Day, that day's featured turf race was won in no-doubt-about-it fashion by Wise Dan.  I had it, big.  You will recall that Derby Day came up wet and Wise Dan's only serious challenger - and a very serious challenger he would have been - was Point of Entry.  Point of Entry scratched due to the wet conditions at Churchill Downs.  With no sign of Wise Dan on Belmont Day, Point of Entry was not scratched, despite the YIELDING turf condition, and won in dramatic fashion, rallying from way back and repulsing two challenges deep in the homestretch.  Since Seabiscuit-War Admiral style match races are a relic of the past, hopefully we will get a Wise Dan-Point of Entry showdown later this year when the Breeders' Cup returns to sunny, dry Santa Anita.  I loaded up on Point of Entry:

Point of Entry was the odds-on favorite and only paid $3.10 to Win.  My $20 returned $31.  If only it were always this easy.  I tossed in a small straight Exacta with the #5 Optimizer on top, out of the newly energized Calumet Farm.  Optimizer finished second (a boxed Exacta would have paid five times ROI..... right horses, wrong wagers).  In employing a controversial Pick 6 strategy promoted by the likes of DRF's Steven Crist and Andy Beyer but frowned upon by The Old Master of the Turf and Lou, I left the so-called "Lock of the Day" Point of Entry out of my Pick 6 (but not my Late Pick 4) in favor of singling second-place finisher Optimizer.  

Still, I had winnings in my pocket and so it was snack time!

The Snack of Champions!

With only the Belmont Stakes to go and nearly an hour until post time, I reviewed my Belmont Day efforts.  Specifically, I wanted to see what went wrong with my Pick 6.  At this stage, 5 races into it, I was 1-for-5.  That rates as just about, no, it's probably the worst I've ever managed.  I've never gone 0-for-6 (I don't think), but there was almost certainly an 1-fer here and there way back in my formative days.  It was then I discovered what some of you may have already realized (but did not spoil it for the rest - thanks!);  In addition to the single winner on my Pick 6 I had four - count 'em, FOUR - second-place horses.  On the precipice of the Belmont Stakes, here is how my ticket looked:

For those of you (everyone) who can't read my handwriting [second row from the bottom, arrow at left]: 

2nd-1st-2nd-2nd-2nd..... [Belmont TBD]

This has to be my best worst Pick 6 of all-time, if there can be such a thing.

Above my Pick 6, the top row in the image above shows you my Late Pick 4 (scavenged from my swing-for-the-fences Pick 6; $288, that's why I didn't play it):

2nd-2nd-1st..... [Belmont TBD]

It was a bad omen, at the time unrealized, when "Buck's" $36,000 Early Pick 4 went down in flames with a second-place finish.  That is also the kind of Belmont Day I had; second-place finishes derailing my shot at a big payout.

The image above also gives you a sneak peak at my Belmont Stakes result (below):

My pick to win the Belmont Stakes, the #9 Revolutionary, finished 5th.  At the time I noted the final results on my Pick 6, I wasn't certain where precisely Revolutionary finished, hence the "?"  I just knew he was out of the money.  I included my Trifecta Box [#6-#9-#13] as the final leg of the Late Pick 4 wager, and my #6 Incognito (also one-half of my Exacta Box with Revolutionary) finished 4th.

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In other news from The Sport of Kings, 2011 Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom makes his bid, tomorrow at Royal Ascot, to become the first-ever horse to have won a Grade I (or Group I, in Europe and elsewhere) race on three different racing surfaces.  Read all about it here.

Also, read about the inspirational story of 2012 Belmont Stakes runner-up Paynter, and the Hollywood-type resolution.  Plus, the Beyer Speed Figure epilogue.

Long-range Reconnaissance

Sticking with the Empire State, here's a look at NYC from the distant past:

The photo above purports to be 11th Avenue in NYC circa way back when.  There's so much to investigate; the horse-drawn carriages and wagons, the street car, the steam-powered... umm... locomotive (complete with boxcars), the fruit and vegetable stand at lower right, the hustle and bustle up the street in the distance, the street sweeper sweeping up after the horse traffic, the little kids playing/running on the sidewalks.

5th Avenue and Broadway in 1915, looking north.  I like the massive Mercedes-Benz logo adorning the grille of the bus, at center.  For those of you with an interest in architecture, had the cameraman turned 180 degrees you'd be looking south, right at the famous Flatiron Building (built in 1902).

An ethereal scene from under the Brooklyn Bridge.

One of the great, lost, American pastimes - Auto Polo.  For the life of me, I cannot figure out why this sport didn't survive.  Survive may be the operative term.  My research indicates this scene took place at one of NYC's baseball fields (the Polo Grounds?  Hilltop Park?  Doesn't look like Ebbets Field) in 1915.

A rarity for Long-range Reconnaissance; a color photo.  This is Times Square during a March rain shower in 1943.  The historic - and long gone - Astor Theatre was showing the Mickey Rooney film The Human Condition.  Next door, the Globe was showing Disney's animated Saludos Amigos.  The rain-drenched streets project the reflective quality of a placid lake.  And how about that two-color traffic signal?  Who needs amber?!

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And speaking of films, this Saturday at 8 pm Turner Classic Movies will show the iconic John Ford-John Wayne western The Searchers (1956) on its weekly program "The Essentials."  In 2007 the American Film Institute ranked The Searchers 12th on its 100 Greatest American Films of All-Time and in 2008 AFI named The Searchers the Greatest Western of All-Time.  Martin Scorsese is a big fan of The Searchers.

This is the look I give people when they speak disparagingly of Pete Rose.