Same couch. Same day. Same page.
At least it isn’t raining.
There was an easy theme last year. It started with the simplest form of writing. Go with the weather. Set the scene.
Water rolls over the gutters and pools into puddles, a statement of intent, a day of disruption. The Belmont Gold Cup washed away yesterday, the New York and the Just A Game managed to run, putting up asterisks rather than affirmations and the Belmont Stakes card tries to quell the weather gods. At least the jump race was run Wednesday. The Saratoga rain. The biblical, belting Saratoga rain.
About 600 words later, it finished.
And sure, the show goes on. The show always goes on. The Belmont, first run at 1 5/8 miles on a Thursday at Jerome Park in 1867, still looms in the distance, four hours and three minutes to go. Tick tock. Tick tock. At least it stopped raining.
I had almost forgotten about last year.
Races were postponed, canceled, moved to Sunday, post times were adjusted and juggled. Nitrogen showed she could run on the dirt, er, mud. Frankie, on another farewell tour, won the Met Mile. Patch Adams scored in the True North. Book’em Danno began his summer of love. Sovereignty did what Sovereignty does. John Shirreffs, in town with Baeza, brightened our day like he always did. And we had a 13-race belter, topped off with the rescheduled Jaipur and Manhattan, Sunday. It was a blur.
Joe just walked in after a morning walk around the park on Lake Avenue. He almost looks refreshed, revived. The sun’s out, although there is a call for rain later today. Which means nothing, I’ve been here when it’s pouring on the main track and sunny on the Oklahoma. We’ll see.
“Like a normal Saturday morning out there,” Joe said. “People are out walking their dogs.”
This is anything but a normal Saturday afternoon. A 14-race behemoth, seven stakes, six Grade 1 stakes, topped by the Belmont Stakes at 7:04 tonight. Book’em Danno and Bentornato clashing in the True North. Ag Bullet trying to defend her title against the boys in the Jaipur. Crude Velocity attempting to stay undefeated in the Woody Stephens. Preakness winner Journalism shortens up and tries to get over from the outside draw in a deep renewal of the Met Mile. More races than writers, we’ll throw it all together late through the night and into the morning. The final edition of the Belmont Special this year and forever.
The ultimate host, Saratoga, drew a tough hand for its three editions of the Belmont Racing Festival.
Two years ago, Mystik Dan upset the Derby, but couldn’t win the Preakness, he showed up here but was over the top by then.
Last year Sovereignty crushed the Derby but skipped the Preakness, the Belmont Stakes became a layup for two rather than a gavel down for three.
Golden Tempo took the same route this year, win, skip, prepare. Imagine a Triple Crown chance, never mind a winner, at Saratoga. The vibe, the energy, the urgency of this racing town. That’s what we envisioned when the idea began to boil a few years back. Didn’t happen. Sadly. Horsemen taking care of horses, I get it, but it would have been sweet, one of those moments where you would look back and say, yeah, I was there.
Every once in a while, I say it about American Pharoah and his Triple Crown, a race, a sport, a moment etched in time forever. Instead, we can talk about being here when the Belmont ran at Saratoga. Big horses, big races, but not the biggest. That’s cool, a footnote, a sidebar in racing’s ever-weaving tale. It’s been fun.
Today we usher out the final Belmont Racing Festival at Saratoga. It’s worked, despite last year’s weather and the deflation of never feeling the chance at a Triple Crown winner. What might have been, right?
In a few weeks we’ll say goodbye to Aqueduct. The rogue cousin who you always kind of liked but never knew why. A logical and necessary decision by NYRA but also a bittersweet moment to see another old friend slip away.
And in three months, we’ll welcome a new Belmont Park. A much-needed upgrade, four surfaces for 44 weeks and a new era in New York racing. Credit to the visionaries who have made it happen. And, whew, we sure hope it works. A Belmont Racing Festival at the new Belmont Park will be something to look forward to next summer and hopefully forever.
A healthy, vibrant Belmont Park is the only way to take the pressure off Saratoga, which hosts a whopping 51 days of racing this year. Release the pressure valve on the giving tree.
Two hours after his morning walk, Joe, carrying his race clothes on two hangers and a turkey sandwich in a Ziploc, just walked out of our two-bedroom rental to hunker down in the office for one last deadline. He pokes his head back through the door.
“It’s raining,”
Of course, it’s raining.
See you in July.
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