Belmont Day - Meh

[menifee]

Anyone else find this day a little underwhelming?. Belmont Stakes stunk. The 3yos are just bad. A horse that hadn't even won a G3 ships in from Laurel and wins the Man. Mor Spirit is not a miler we'll remember. We know what he is. First 2/3 of the day was chalk fest city. Other than Songbird and maybe Antonoe, not too many stars today.

American turf horses have stunk vs the euros for decades and nothing changes.

I don't blame NYRA - I love the idea of the festival and the concept is great. I just found the racing below par. Certainly not G1 racing other than Songbird. I watch the international racing from Australia and their big festival days and it just seems like such better racing. Fuller fields, better prices, etc. Seeing Baffert's C team win at 2-1 to 3-1 in 4 races just doesn't get me more interested in the game.

[ronsmac]

Originally Posted by menifee

Anyone else find this day a little underwhelming?. Belmont Stakes stunk. The 3yos are just bad. A horse that hadn't even won a G3 ships in from Laurel and wins the Man. Mor Spirit is not a miler we'll remember. We know what he is. First 2/3 of the day was chalk fest city. Other than Songbird and maybe Antonoe, not too many stars today.

American turf horses have stunk vs the euros for decades and nothing changes.

I don't blame NYRA - I love the idea of the festival and the concept is great. I just found the racing below par. Certainly not G1 racing other than Songbird. I watch the international racing from Australia and their big festival days and it just seems like such better racing. Fuller fields, better prices, etc. Seeing Baffert's C team win at 2-1 to 3-1 in 4 races just doesn't get me more interested in the game.

Yes.

[dilanesp]

I disagree. Non-TC attempt Belmonts used to suck and draw 35k. NYRA has done a great job turning this into a can't miss day of racing for both fans and bettors. (And that compensates for the slow Belmonts.)

[menifee]

You are right that NYRA did the right thing with this concept but the actual betting and horses were underwhelming.

[Bigadam119]

Originally Posted by menifee

You are right that NYRA did the right thing with this concept but the actual betting and horses were underwhelming.

I'd have to disagree on the underwhelming horses, there was a world record time set today.

[CincyHorseplayer]

Predictability and profitability don't always go hand and hand. Especially when we are all paying attention. It happens. So what. Good card and great concept. Keep em comin NYRA. This is a winner even if you don't win there sour grapes! If the only thing that is acceptable to solve a mediocre or losing day for you is immortal performances you expect too much.

But somebody mentioned it. The Jaipur was a world record. Had 18-1 in 3rd and cashed zero. Aaarrrgghh! Still a good day!

[menifee]

Listen if you know anything about racing, you know a world record is typically a function of track. A 2yo set a track record at BTP a few days ago.

That world record earned a 109 Beyer. A high figure but nothing amazing.

Further I doubt the figure. I bet Disco Partner, but he's not a 109 horse. He's a 100 Beyer horse at best. Notably timeform had the race slower at a 120.

You could make counter arguments to my original point but please don't use the concept of a new world record to suggest that was a tremendous race. Track records can mean amazing horses on some occasions (Arrogate Travers). This was not one of those instances. Disco Partner did not turn into Secratariat.

[camourous]

Originally Posted by menifee

Anyone else find this day a little underwhelming?. Belmont Stakes stunk. The 3yos are just bad. A horse that hadn't even won a G3 ships in from Laurel and wins the Man. Mor Spirit is not a miler we'll remember. We know what he is. First 2/3 of the day was chalk fest city. Other than Songbird and maybe Antonoe, not too many stars today.

American turf horses have stunk vs the euros for decades and nothing changes.

I don't blame NYRA - I love the idea of the festival and the concept is great. I just found the racing below par. Certainly not G1 racing other than Songbird. I watch the international racing from Australia and their big festival days and it just seems like such better racing. Fuller fields, better prices, etc. Seeing Baffert's C team win at 2-1 to 3-1 in 4 races just doesn't get me more interested in the game.

[acorn54]

I agree that it is not a turn on to get predominately chalk for the day. new comers don't see gambling on the horses as a chance to make money. they are right of course. in yesteryear with full fields of 10 or more horses you had a fighting chance.
I sized up at 8am Saturday it was going to be a chalky day, and passed on betting Belmont races, except for the feature race, where I sensed it was a wide open affair.

[lamboguy]

i thought it was the greatest day that i have ever seen in racing anywhere. i am in a state of shock with all those horses that won for Baffert coming from 3000 miles away onto the toughest surface anywhere.

top to bottom the racing was great and i can't believe i am saying this but giving away those big purses was very worthwhile for the sport for the very first time. it was more than a first class job putting on this festival event. i liked it about 10 times more than the breeders cups that i always go to, i will be at Belmont next year for the festival.

[Dahoss9698]

Originally Posted by lamboguy

i thought it was the greatest day that i have ever seen in racing anywhere.

I'm with the OP. Love the idea for the day and the intentions were great. We saw some great performances but the overall day left me feeling blah, mostly because of the Baffert nonsense.

[GMB@BP]

I think yesterday just showed how weak the foal crop declines have made the races at the top seem.

Look at the races.

Easy Goer - not as good as your typical EG field we have seen, that being said West Coast does seem like an improving horse and the runner up is not bad at all.

Acorn - I actually thought this was a solid event and Salty and Abel Talesman are nice horses. Not the deepest field but this race has always struggled to attract deep fields of nice horses.

Phipps -Songbird is the one horse who I think will move forward and would want if she wasnt 1-9 of the winners next out, it was clear she was not cranked up and ridden like a horse who just wanted to get things going on the season, that was her worst race in a long time but I think she moves up off that race.

Jaipur - actually thought this was a good field and solid race, the time was a product of the turf course being ridiculously fast.

Woody Stephens -This field looked a bit weak coming in, was weaker looking coming out. The winner may go onto bigger things but seemed like a decent horse for a top barn capitalizing on a bad field.

Just A Game - not sure what to make, the winner ran well but I dont think this ended up a strong race.

Met Mile - field was so bad coming in that Mor Spirit, off a win in the Sexton mile, was the co fav. The second choice, a decent sort, but still a cut below really good horses would have been 7th choice in many years. Field wise this Met Mile has to rank way way down the list.

Manhattan - meh, i guess its ok but Time Test was supposed to be the good horse and stunk it up.

Belmont - I think the top two may never win another graded stake again, feels very similar to last year. In a odd race for NA racing it was a horrible field with a likely result. There are no horses coming out of that race that I would want moving forward.

[Thomas Roulston]

One would think that with the more inclusive purse distribution format observed for the biggest races, there would have been larger fields.

And I don't like what American turf racing has become - that is, a carbon copy of European turf racing, with every quarter faster than the last. It wasn't always that way: Remember the 1980 Sword Dancer (at Belmont), in which Marquee Universal and John Henry dueled each other into defeat with fractions of :23 2/5 and :47, allowing Tiller to win?

[GMB@BP]

Originally Posted by Thomas Roulston

One would think that with the more inclusive purse distribution format observed for the biggest races, there would have been larger fields.

And I don't like what American turf racing has become - that is, a carbon copy of European turf racing, with every quarter faster than the last. It wasn't always that way: Remember the 1980 Sword Dancer (at Belmont), in which Marquee Universal and John Henry dueled each other into defeat with fractions of :23 2/5 and :47, allowing Tiller to win?

I think you are speaking of races in NY where the riders tend to ride those races like that, in socal there certainly are much faster paces. But right now all the best horses seem to be in the east grass wise.

[Dahoss9698]

Originally Posted by Thomas Roulston

One would think that with the more inclusive purse distribution format observed for the biggest races, there would have been larger fields.

And I don't like what American turf racing has become - that is, a carbon copy of European turf racing, with every quarter faster than the last. It wasn't always that way: Remember the 1980 Sword Dancer (at Belmont), in which Marquee Universal and John Henry dueled each other into defeat with fractions of :23 2/5 and :47, allowing Tiller to win?

Thomas, I hate to break it to you, but all of these races you constantly speak of happened 30-40 years ago. Unless you've got a Delorean that doubles as a time machine we're not going to see racing like that anymore.

The game has changed and there's no coming back to how it was.