Author: News

The Haiku Handicapper Presented By BC2A Equine Sports Performance: 2020 Belmont Stakes

Time to analyze the 2020 Belmont Stakes field, in post position order, in the form of Haiku; a Japanese poem of 17 syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five.

To read previous editions of The Haiku Handicapper, click here.

#1 – Tap It to Win
Did some growing up
From erratic rookie year
Could see redemption

#2 – Sole Volante
Would have liked him more
At a mile and a half
More room to uncoil

#3 – Max Player
Four months on the bench
Bred to get better with age
Wide range of outcomes

#4 – Modernist
Steady and proven
Doesn't enthrall, but trust goes
To Mott in New York

#5 – Farmington Road
Mid-to-deep closer
Has a graded stakes ceiling
Should get a small check

#6 – Fore Left
Last-minute entry
Found his mojo in Dubai
Too much still unknown

#7 – Jungle Runner
Calumet horses
Tend to blow up trifectas
But this one's helpless

#8 – Tiz the Law
The enduring force
In a crumbling division
It all goes through him

#9 – Dr Post
Can't knock his progress
This is his boldest jump yet
He's live in this group

#10 – Pneumatic
Two good ones beat him
Last time out in the Matt Winn
That's his selling point

Prediction
The scales of justice
Tip to the Cide of the Law
Three and four follow

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Sunday’s Belmont Card To Feature Mandatory Payout Of Empire 6 Jackpot Wager

Sunday's nine-race card at Belmont Park will feature a mandatory payout of the Empire 6, which boasts a jackpot of $154,928 heading into Friday's Belmont card.

Live coverage of all the races in the sequence are available with America's Day at the Races on FOX Sports and MSG+. Free Equibase-provided past performances are available for races that are part of the America's Day at the Races broadcast and can be accessed at https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/tv-schedule.

Following Saturday's Belmont Stakes Day card, which offers six graded stakes, highlighted by the 152nd running of the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes, the action will continue at Belmont Park on Sunday.

The Empire 6 sequence will commence with Race 4 at 2:54 p.m. Eastern, a claiming race for 3-year-olds and up going one mile on the main track.

Race 5 will see a six-furlong inner turf sprint for 3-year-olds and up with an approximate post time of 3:29 p.m. In Race 6, a field of nine sophomore fillies will get their turn in a maiden claiming turf mile.

Sophomore fillies will look to sprint to success in Race 7 at 4:34 p.m., a six-furlong claiming race over Belmont's Big Sandy.

The sequence's penultimate race will be the Empire 6's lone stakes. A full field of 10 3-year-old fillies will compete over six furlongs on the inner turf in $80,000 Lady Shipman, with Race 8 going off at 5:05 p.m. Stoneway Farm's Cofactor will make both her seasonal and turf debut, entering off a six-month layoff for trainer Kelly Breen. Trainer Christophe Clement will saddle two fillies for the Lady Shipman in stakes-winner She's My Type and Notorious R B G.

A 1 1/16-mile grass route on the Widener turf featuring a full field of New York-bred maidens in the Race 9 finale at 5:36 p.m. will conclude the sequence.

The Empire 6 requires the bettor to select the first-place finisher of the final six races of the card. On non-mandatory payout days, if one unique ticket exists, then 100 percent of the net pool, plus the jackpot carryover if applicable, will be paid to the winner. If there is no unique wager selecting the first-place finisher in all six races, then 75 percent of the day's net pool will be distributed to those who selected the first-place finisher in the greatest number of races. The remainder will be added into the jackpot and carried to the next day's Empire 6.

For more information on the Empire 6, please visit http://www.nyrabets.com.

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To Hell and Back: Belmont Marks a Deserved Triumph for New York City

The history of Belmont Park, believe it or not, goes back over 350 years, to when America itself wasn’t even an idea yet. In 1665, New York’s colonial governor Richard Nicholl constructed a racetrack called Newmarket in Queens. It stood for over a century, and proved so popular that even after the British were expelled in 1783, a thirst for horse racing lived on in the hearts of newly independent New Yorkers. Union Course sprouted up in 1821 and became the country’s leading track. After that came Brighton Beach Race Course, which helped create the New York institution of amusement at Coney Island. The plants of Sheepshead Bay, Gravesend, Jerome Park, Aqueduct and many others followed soon after as enterprises competing to satisfy the city’s enduring racing fix.

Then, on May 4, 1905, on a vast 400-acre expanse of land straddling the border of New York City and Long Island, Belmont Park opened. It was in the same area that Newmarket had sat atop hundreds of years earlier, but instead of a monument to British occupation and wealth, Belmont became an American treasure, open for all to enjoy. Which they did, by the tens of thousands, from all walks of the now industrialized city.

“The attendance, moreover, was not restricted to any one locality nor to any one class … The Bowery and the Avenue mingled in the surging democracy of the betting ring,” said the New York Tribute in its coverage of opening day.

The Belmont Stakes, previously run at Jerome Park and Morris Park, moved to its permanent home later that spring. Over the past 115 years, legends were born and furnished in that race and at that track. Man O’ War, Secretariat, Seattle Slew, American Pharoah, all had to come prove their greatness by passing the Test of the Champion.

Beyond the equine performances, the track has seen the ups and downs of modern history and weathered every storm. The anti-gambling laws that shut it down for two years soon after it opened. The Great Depression. World War II. But nothing could prepare Belmont, or New York City, for what was visited upon it this spring.

New York City is a gateway to the rest of the world. But this year, that role cost it dearly, as flights from Europe packed with coronavirus-infected travelers poured into the area by the hundreds of thousands through March. It was a timebomb. By April, it had exploded. The biggest city in America screeched to a halt as everyone, from the governor to the citizens, turned their lives upside down and inside out to try to mitigate a horrendous pandemic that had already spread like wildfire.

By mid-April, 800–eight hundred–of our neighbors were dying every single day. The equivalent of all the lives we lost on 9/11, every four days. The plague was so ubiquitous and murderous that freezer trucks had to be parked outside of our hospitals because the morgues had so quickly reached their capacity of bodies. The steady wail of ambulance sirens was a constant reminder of the hell we were in. Going to the grocery store, a chore we never thought twice about before, suddenly meant taking your life into your hands. All in all, over 20,000 people in the city have been killed. That’s more than one in every 400 New York City residents. And it’s not over.

But one thing about New York City that makes it special that you can’t understand if you haven’t lived here, is that we look out for each other. We’ve proven it time and time again. We bounced back from 9/11 with solidarity and generosity and went about our lives. When outsiders predicted chaos, we took care of our city during the 2003 blackout and again through Hurricane Sandy. Crime plummeted exactly when the city was at its most vulnerable. Yes, there’s bluntness and some rudeness and if you’re a tourist you might’ve been bumped out of the way once or twice by a muttering New Yorker. But there’s also compassion, understanding and empathy. You can’t survive in a city of 8,000,000 without all of those attributes.

We stared down the greatest existential threat to a city that’s faced far too many of them. The devastation has been incomprehensible. I personally lost a friend. But we tamed the beast far better than projected and we flattened the curve, again because we looked out for each other and sacrificed. Today, New York, after being the epicenter of the global crisis, is in a far better position with the virus than most of America.

Because of that, we get a summer. We get to live our lives with reasonable precautions for the next few months. And amid a sports desert, racing has been an oasis. So it’s fitting that on the first day of that summer, we get: the Belmont Stakes. The first major sports attraction in New York since the pandemic descended upon us.

In my high school days, I would sit alone in the sprawling Belmont grandstand on a random Wednesday and just soak in the sights of a game I loved. The bucolic serenity of essentially having the country’s biggest racetrack to myself helped me clear my mind and battle the anxiety of a teenager growing up in post-9/11 New York. It was peace at a time when life in New York didn’t have much of it. So it makes sense on a personal level that that cavernous track returns to provide peace in a time of distress for the city once more.

And even though we may not have the roar of the crowd this year, that just amplifies the sounds unique to our sport even more: the thundering rumble of hooves, the exultations of jockeys, the reverberating ring of the starting gate.

Whatever lies beyond the horizon, we have reason right now to be proud even as we mourn. Communities are what get humans through hardship, and through that hardship, those communities become tighter knit. It’s happened in racing, and it’s certainly happened in New York City. So you’ll excuse me if I shed a few tears when those horses come out to that track Saturday to the echo of booming horns and Frank Sinatra’s timeless voice. We’ve all earned the opportunity to let it out.

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Royal Ascot Day Four: Golden Horde Fends Off U.S.-Based Kimari In Commonwealth Cup

Friday's G1 highlight at Royal Ascot, the Commonwealth Cup over six furlongs, saw a decisive victory for Golden Horde. It was an eighth Royal Ascot victory for both trainer Clive Cox and jockey Adam Kirby.

Always traveling well, the son of Lethal Force held a clear advantage a furlong from home and was never threatened as he scored by a length and a half from American challenger Kimari (Wesley Ward/Frankie Dettori).

“Clive [Cox] is like a second father to me,” Kirby said. “We have always had a good relationship, and long may it last. We have been together a long time; he knows me and I know him, and we are very honest with each other. That's why we get on so well together. It is straightforward.

“I kept it uncomplicated, although the race went a bit back to front. I thought the Wesley Ward horse would give me a lead to half-way but he didn't jump. Golden Horde has a great natural cruising speed, and it was all very easy. Full credit to Clive, he has done a great job.”

Clive Cox added: “I am very proud of him. We have got a great team at home and to win a G1 first time out with any horse is difficult, but given the way things are this year, it's the same for a lot of people, but I am really proud. He is a horse to go forward with – I really hope and pray he has got a longer journey to go ahead of him.”

The G1 July Cup is expected to be next for Golden Horde.

The five-furlong Palace of Holyroodhouse Handicap got proceedings underway on day four of Royal Ascot. Despite being a 21-runner handicap for 3-year-olds, the contest was turned into something of a procession as red-hot favorite Art Power came home three and a half lengths clear. It was a sixth Royal Ascot winner for trainer Tim Easterby and a seventh for jockey Silvestre de Sousa.

“This is very important, especially for my team King Power Racing and Top [Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha),” said de Sousa. “Obviously his Dad is not here but whatever way he is he will be looking down for his horse, I am so glad to be involved with King Power Racing it is a big operation and getting bigger. This is the place we like to have winners, big winners like this.”

In the day's second race, Dandalla made it two wins from as many starts when powering to an impressive victory in the G3 Albany over six furlongs, handing jockey Ben Curtis his first Royal Ascot win.

“”It is on every jockey's to-do list. I have been coming down to Royal Ascot for a good while now and not really getting involved, so finally to get a winner is unbelievable,” Curtis said. “It is funny, it was a surreal feeling. I came there are the two [furlong pole] traveling very well, and I just popped her between a couple just inside the two, and she came alive. I knew when we accelerated that nothing else would be able to pick up the way I did, because she picked up very well. In the last furlong I said, 'We're out on our own', and it was a brilliant feeling and a great performance by the filly.”

Owned by Nick Bradley Racing & Elaine Burke, the daughter of Dandy Man took up the running well over a furlong from home and never looked in any danger after that point. It was a second Royal Ascot victory for trainer Karl Burke, who is now considering the 1,000 Guineas for the filly.

“Dandalla has got a great turn of foot and then she keeps on galloping,” Burke said. “A few times at the top of the Middleham gallop where we do most of our work, jockeys have been struggling to pull her up. My daughter Lucy earmarked her since before Christmas. She actually came in one day and said 'I hate to say it, but this filly reminds me of Laurens.' That will tell you how high she thought of her. She is probably more precious than Laurens – Laurens had not even run at this time during her two-year-old career. She is also speedier than Laurens. The question now is how far we stay, and we have got plenty of time to think about.”

American-based trainer Wesley Ward nearly got his first Royal Ascot win of 2020 in Friday's third race, the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes, with 2-year-old Golden Pal. However, The Lir Jet made a strong run in the late stages of the five-furlong contest and got up to score by a neck for trainer Michael Bell and jockey Oisin Murphy.

The winner is now unbeaten in two starts, having won on debut at Yarmouth on June 3, when he was owned by the trainer's son Nick. Following that win, the two-year-old Prince Of Lir colt was purchased by Qatar Racing. Now, The Lir Jet has earned an expenses-paid berth to the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint this fall at Keeneland.

“At Yarmouth he broke the track record, but he did not learn a lot because he went so easy, so today he really had to dig in and learn how to race,” Bell said. “My son Nick found him from Robson Aguira, who bought him very cheaply and was going to breeze him up. When the breeze-ups were cancelled Robson and Nick came to an arrangement and the horse came to us. Then Sheikh Fahad was watching Yarmouth on telly and sent me a text asking if he was for sale, and the rest is history. A good bit of business for all involved, and very nice for us to have a good winner for a very important owner – it is high profile for us. Any trainer needs good horses and good winners, especially for big operations like Qatar.”

Frankie Dettori was in the winner's enclosure for the 70th time at Royal Ascot after four-year-old filly Fanny Logan landed the G2 Hardwicke Stakes over a mile and a half. Dettori delivered the daughter of Sea The Stars with a perfectly timed challenge entering the final furlong and went on to score by a comfortable two and a half lengths from Alounak.

Trainer John Gosden, saddling his fifth winner of the week, said: “Frankie's belying his years and it is a pleasure to be around him. His knowledge and his feel when riding work in the morning – he is one of the few who is extremely accurate when talking about horses in the mornings – what they need and what they don't need – and he is a great race-reader and a fabulous jockey. We are lucky to have him about.”

 

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