Final thoughts from the classics

The 2013 Triple Crown is in the books and already the same played out, repeated year-after-year and unoriginal thoughts are being bandied about in print, on television or the radio. Probably on social networking, too.

Victory with a cost

Tough game this deal called horse racing that so many of us love. Not 12 hours removed from feeling the satisfaction of winning one of the country’s biggest turf stakes with a horse who’d only started once since early November, trainer Shug McGaughey took his second uppercut of the weekend.

Palace Malice delivers on expectations

The half dozen or so employees of Todd Pletcher laughed, high-fived, fist-bumped, ribbed and teased each other and did all the fun-loving things people walking to the test barn with the Belmont Stakes winner should do as Palace Malice made his way back to the Belmont Park stable area.

Belmont Card Picks

The TIHR Handicappers take one more stab at one of the biggest days on the American racing calendar and the last major one in New York for all intents and purposes before Saratoga opens with Saturday’s Belmont Stakes program.

All quiet on Belmont eve morning

A little more than a full day to go before the last Triple Crown race of the season is in the books and Belmont Park was about as quiet as can be Friday morning.

The big one stands on its own

Two things stand out from this year’s three-week gap between the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes. Well, a lot of things stand out, but two are a little higher on the noticeable scale and both get me a little riled up.

Biggest field for Belmont Stakes since 1996

A second starting gate won’t be needed for Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, but the one that will be set up in front of the stands will be almost as crowded as it’s ever been for the final jewel of the 2013 Triple Crown.