THE BELMONT AND THE BRIGHT SPOT
 

While the scratch of IAH is devastating , the ownership
and trainer have negated a deja vu of a Big Brown/Chsrismatic
event which would fuel another PETA /NY TIMES campaign against
racing.

Perhaps the Board running ther NY Tracks will learn to adress important
issues(ie union/labor demands) to avoid future last moment threats of a
strike.

So if any of the remaining 11 horses breakdown, do you believe PETA or the NY Times will give horse racing a pass. These people are hoping for a breakdown.

Of the problems facing racing, union demands are probably last on the list. There just aren't that many union employees at the race track. You could bust every race track union and pay their members minimum wage and the tracks would still be in trouble. The number problem racing has is lack of customers. Until horse racing addresses the size of it customer base, it will be continue to be in trouble. I doubt having to deal with a union employee has ever stop someone from betting a horse race.
While the scratch of IHA was the right thing to do, it hurt horse racing immensely. If he had run, it would have introduced new customers to the game and maybe brought back some old ones. There has to be a first time for every bettor and a triple crown chance would have been that first time for some bettors. Horse racing needs more events to get new customers. It is marketing 101. Of course the way tracks treat their customers once they are there does exactly entice them to return.
There was an interesting article in the local paper today about the scratch of IHA was going to effect them. They think will cut their crowd by a third. I imagine the same thing will happen at race tracks across the country. Plus they have 4 dozen IHA t-shirts they don't know what they are going to do with. We sometime forget how much big days not only effect the track where the event is held, but also the smaller local tracks who are heavily subsidised by simulcasting.

PETA is never going give horse racing a pass on anything. Those people are nuts and almost everyone thinks so.
The NY Times is looking for stories that sell papers. It is up to horse racing to make sure those stories are not about something bad that happened at the track. You don't blame the paper covering the story, you blame the people responsible for the story. All of the bad press that NYRA has gotten recently could have been prevented by NYRA if they had acted differently.

Joe Drape, on ABC this morning, made his usual asinine comment about racing. Something like just another day of horses running around in a circle.

What a hump this dirt bag is.

Yeah, he's such an advocate for the sport. :rolleyes:

The Belmont
 

[people are hoping for a breakdown.[/QUOTE]

A Triple Crown winner would have been Huge , Spectacular !

Those who don't follow as close as we do , at least the people I know had very little idea what was going on with the trainer. All they kept asking was about the horse. They only focuded on the horse and the possible history
making race that was coming up. Unfortunately , we didn't get to see it happen.
I liked the fact that he was treated like a champ deserved to be , with his paddock appearance surroundedby all connected to him.
Mario G showed amazing class and talent and I so hope his career will take
off from here . .

As far as the the winner Union Rags. Doesn't get much better. Matz was due . He did a fine job with him.
Phyliss Wyeth . What can I say that the pictures and the feature stories haven't already provided . Matz wanted this badly for her . I'm thrilled she got to enjoy the moment she so wanted and
invested so much into . She bought back the right mare ! She stayed loyal to
the right trainer for this horse , who questioned the breeding and distance.
saw the strengths and made it happen .

The horse is a big beautful boy. It was great to see him in the winner circle again . Especially in a classic race . A wonderful tribute to the late Dixie Union who suffered a rare disease and lost his life young . A feel good story in so many ways !

JV got it done for his second Belmont , hopefully theer will be more "Rags" in his future too :D
Leparoux , I feel bad for him , this has to be tough. But this has happened before and will again , Jocks are replaced . From those mistakes , he can only learn.
In the end Belmont attracted a good size and respectable crowd. NYRA has been ponced on . But they did a great job in the end , with what was left on their laps.
Just my few thoughts on the Belmont .

Ditto, Nj. All good thoughts. Mario has the wisdom and grace of someone much older than he is. A fine young man, that one.

I hope to see more of his riding in the future Grits.

What a great and loyal fan you are ! I hope you had a great time there too !

Yeah, really impressed with Mario through all this, both on and off the track.

One thing that he and all the connections did was very clearly make it all about the horse -- lots of class displayed all around imo.