Tag: Belmont Stakes

Tom Durkin Returns to Call the Belmont Stakes on Fox

Tom Durkin will return to the announcers booth to call the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets on Saturday, June 10, according to a press release from FOX Sports.

In addition to calling the Belmont Stakes, Durkin will announce all races aired during the network's Belmont Stakes Day coverage on FOX–scheduled for 4:00-7:30 p.m. Eastern. FOX Sports presents the Belmont Stakes for the first time in 2023 as part of the agreement establishing the network as the home of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival through 2030.

“This is yet another example of FOX' commitment to producing a dynamic broadcast of the Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets,” said NYRA Chief Revenue Officer Tony Allevato. “Tom Durkin's calls are synonymous with the very biggest moments in the sport, and his return to the announcer's booth will be a thrill for sports fans around the country.”

One of the most respected announcers in the sport, Durkin called some 80,000 races during his storied 43-year career, the last 24 years of which he spent as the NYRA announcer before his retirement in 2014.

“The Belmont Stakes has been an iconic part of sports culture for more than 150 years, “said Durkin. “There is nothing like the energy and enthusiasm around Belmont Park with a Triple Crown on the line. It is the apotheosis of excitement.”

“We are honored to have the legendary Tom Durkin return for the Belmont Stakes this year,” said FOX Sports President of Production/Operations and Executive Producer Brad Zager. “When it became official that an iconic piece of the historic Triple Crown would air on FOX, we knew it could only be complete with Tom's voice as the soundtrack.”

Born in Chicago, Durkin studied theatre at St. Norbert College and began calling races at county fairs in Wisconsin in the summer of 1971. In 1975, he moved on to announce at a string of small Midwestern tracks, before landing the job at famed Hialeah Race Course in 1981. Three years later, Durkin became the announcer for the Breeders' Cup, a position he held until 2005, and gained further prominence calling the Triple Crown for a decade beginning in 2001.

“The stretch duel of the 1998 Belmont Stakes remains the most thrilling race I have ever had the privilege to call,” added Durkin. “Those are the kinds of races and individual moments that stay with us forever, and I can't wait to give it another go come June 10.” Victory Gallop got up for a narrow victory to deny Real Quiet the Triple Crown, with Durkin saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words. This photo is worth five million dollars,” referring to what would have been Real Quiet's bonus payout for winning the Triple Crown.

Just prior to his retirement, The New York Times referred to Durkin as “the man widely considered the greatest race caller in the history of thoroughbred racing.” In 2015, Durkin was honored with the Eclipse Award of Merit for a lifetime of outstanding achievement in the sport of thoroughbred racing.

This year's Belmont marks the 50th anniversary of Secretariat's Triple Crown and his track-record setting performance in the Belmont, which he won by 31 lengths.

 

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If Baseball Can Change, So Can the Triple Crown

Baseball had a problem. Because games were taking way too long, because stolen bases were near an all-time low, because defensive shifts were cutting down on offense, the product that is baseball wasn't as good as it could be. Too many boring, interminable, bad games could only mean one thing, that fans were and would continue to lose interest in the national pastime.

Sound familiar? Horse racing has a Triple Crown where the product has been weakened because trainers, who simply refuse to run their horses back on short rest, are reluctant to run racing's stars in all three races, and in particularly in the GI Preakness. The Triple Crown is the sport's most important asset and the one product that the general sports fan will pay attention to. The sport can't afford to allow anything that limits its appeal or diminishes its excellence. When you now get a Preakness every year where you have to hold your breath that the Derby winner will actually run and the rest of the field is made up of a horse or two that straggled across the finish line at Churchill Downs plus a few new uninspiring faces you have a problem and a series that needs improvement.

With bold new rules that arrived this season, baseball has been fixed and most agree that the game has never been better or more exciting. Now, it's time for the Triple Crown to do the same. It, too, needs to be fixed and the obvious solution is to extend the time between races.

I cannot believe that I just wrote that. For decades, I have defended the Triple Crown, the spacing of the races and implored the industry to not change a thing. But now I realize, thanks in part to my interest in baseball, that I was putting tradition over practicality. Tradition is fine but not when it means being so stubborn that you don't change with the times, not when it means that we keep getting Preaknesses like this one.

Baseball could have made the same mistakes and remain tradition-bound. Forcing the pitchers to deliver a pitch within 15 seconds (or 20 if there is a man on base) is a radical change. So are the new anti-shift rules, which meant players could no longer be positioned wherever a team's analytics department dictated. Because the bases are bigger and a pitcher is limited so far as how many times he can throw over to a base, teams are starting to steal again. The biggest change is that games are now, on average, about 30 minutes shorter than they were in 2022. Everyone loves the new rules and the new game.

The NBA game changed dramatically in 1979 when the three-point shot was added. No one is complaining. That sport has never been more popular.

It's great that GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic) isn't pulling a Rich Strike (Keen Ice) and will run. But where is runner-up Two Phil's (Hard Spun)? His trainer, Larry Rivelli, was quoted this week saying that even if he had won the Derby he's not sure that he would have run back. Where is third-place finisher Angel of Empire (Classic Empire)? Both Two Phil's and Angel of Empire turned in terrific efforts in the Derby and would be 4-1 or less in the middle jewel of the Triple Crown, which goes for $1.65 million. That's a position any owner should love. Yet, they won't be taking part. Where is GI Blue Grass winner Tapit Trice (Tapit)? Oh, that's right, Todd Pletcher never runs in the Preakness. All we're getting from the Derby is Mage as fourth-place finisher Disarm (Gun Runner) defected Monday to wait for Saratoga. The best of the new faces is First Mission (Street Sense). He has a chance to turn out to be a good horse, but let's not forget that his biggest win came in a minor Derby prep, the GIII Lexington S.

Part of my stubbornness was that I hate it that trainers insist on having so much time between races and on running so infrequently. It's bad for the sport and limits the amount of money an owner can make. To me, it makes no sense. Horses used to run 25 times a year and three weeks between races was considered a layoff. It's scientifically impossible that the breed has changed so much that five races a year or a only month between races is something that taxes them.

I also used to think that extending the time between the races would mean the task of sweeping the series would be easier and that future Triple Crown winners wouldn't match up to the ones that came before them. In hindsight, the Triple Crown has never been easier to win because the Preakness can turn into an uncontested layup for the Derby winner.

Sure, I'd rather see a change of mind-set where trainers target the entire series as it is, but with the current scheduling of the Triple Crown that's not going to happen. There's often talk that the Preakness should be run a week later, three weeks after the Derby. Then there would be another three weeks to the GI Belmont S. That wouldn't work. To the modern trainer, that's still not enough time between races.

To keep as many of the best 3-year-olds in the series from start to finish, you'd probably need six weeks between races. But that would be overdoing it. The best solution is to have each race run on the first Saturday of the month. This year the Derby would have been on May 6, the Preakness on June 3 and the Belmont on July 1. I'm sure there are some factors that I haven't taken into account, like how would the networks react? The new set up would also likely weaken races like the GI Haskell S. and the GI Travers S.

But there's no doubt that a Triple Crown where there are four weeks between each races would be a better Triple Crown than one where three races are crammed into five weeks. It's all about the product we are selling to the fans.
If you're going to be in Baltimore for Preakness week you might want to check out the red-hot Orioles. They play the Angels and Shohei Ohtani on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Go catch a game. You'll enjoy it. The sport's never been better.

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What You Need to Know About the New Belmont Park

There was a lot to celebrate earlier this month when it was confirmed that the New York State's budget will include a $455-million loan to the New York Racing Association that will go toward a complete rebuild of Belmont Park. That means Belmont will be torn down and replaced by a new structure and that once the new building is up, racing will cease at Aqueduct. But when will it happen? What will the new track look like? And what does it mean for the yearly racing schedule? Here are some of the most important questions and answers involving this dramatic change for New York racing.

When will the new building open?

The plan is to have the new track ready to go for the 2026 spring meet. Construction will start after the 2024 spring meet at Belmont ends. Shortly thereafter, the current building, which opened in 1968, will be torn down.

“It is very early on in the process, but our goal is to have the new facility ready for the 2026 Belmont,” said NYRA CEO and President Dave O'Rourke. “The specifics, we're still working through that and I'll have a much better answer for you this summer.”

With the Belmont grandstand closing in 2024 and not ready to open until 2026, what does that mean for the 2025 racing schedule and the 2025 Belmont?

That might be the single biggest issue that remains unresolved. There are a handful of options. They could run that spring at Aqueduct and hold the Belmont there. The Belmont was run at Aqueduct from 1963 to 1967 while the current Belmont was being built. From a logistical standpoint, that's probably the easiest solution, but the aesthetics of Aqueduct leave a lot to be desired. They could try to run at Belmont during the construction and without stands. That's what Arlington did in 1985 after a fire ravaged the track, just a few weeks before the running of the GI Arlington Million. Gulfstream found a way to conduct racing in the period between the destruction of the old stands and the opening of the new building. You can do a lot these days with tents and temporary seating. Or how about this? Run most of the spring meet at Aqueduct, but head north for Belmont week and have a Belmont-at-Saratoga meet for four or five days.

“Everything is on the table and we will look at all our options,” O'Rourke said.

NYRA has confirmed that all of the traditional fall Belmont meets between now and the re-opening of the new Belmont will be held at Aqueduct.

What will the new grandstand look like? How big will it be?

It will take up roughly 275,000 square feet, making it about one fourth the size of the current building, which covers 1.25 million square feet. As is the case with any new sports facility being built today, there will be an emphasis on amenities. Expect luxury boxes, a high-end restaurant and tents and other temporary facilities catering to the well-heeled.

If it's going to be that small, how will they accommodate the types of crowds you get for the Belmont S. and, in the future, the Breeders' Cup?

“They're going to lay down the infrastructure so that they can put up high-end temporary hospitality for the big days,” O'Rourke said. “It will be something like what you see at Royal Ascot. We're building that into the plan.”

The new Belmont will also be able to place fans in the infield, something not currently available at the existing facility.

Belmont struggles mightily when it comes to attendance, particularly on the week days. Can a new, shiny facility change that narrative?

“I think those attendances will be greater than you might think,” O'Rourke said. “Right now, if you come out here on a nice Saturday in the spring, every green area is packed. It's the building. The building itself is a warehouse built for betting. We're going to have a lot more green space at the new track. By creating a park-like atmosphere, I think you're going to a see a different kind of draw on a regular day. It's also going to be a facility that will cater more to the owner and horsemen. This is New York and a lot of the owners live here. We want to build something they'll want to come out to. That's what Saratoga does. It brings everyone, fans, owners, out. I know it's a different market, but we think by having a smaller, high-end building we can accomplish some of that.

With no Aqueduct, Belmont will be open for 44 weeks. Is that too much? Could we see an expanded Saratoga meet?

“As of now, the plan is to run the traditional meet at Saratoga with Belmont hosting the rest of the days,” O'Rourke said. “We will see how that works out. If we need to adjust or try something different, we'll have to figure out what that might be. What that might be, I don't know.”

With all the changes, this was NYRA's chance to downsize its racing surfaces. You need a mile-and-a-half main track for exactly one race a year. Why not go to a smaller main track?

“Some things you just don't want to mess with,” O'Rourke said. “We had many different variations drawn up, but we're not going to change. The Belmont Stakes is the biggest event held here and the mile-and-a-half track works for that. There will be one change, though. The turf courses are going to widened with more lanes.

What's the latest on the synthetic track at Belmont?

“The synthetic track is going in this year and will be ready for the 2024 spring meet at Belmont,” O'Rourke said. “Once we leave for Saratoga, the synthetic goes in, the inner turf gets redone and more tunnels go in. The flavor of winter racing in New York is going to change. We will have more options. Our circuit, we become a dirt circuit every year for four, five months. With a synthetic track, there will be more of an opportunity for turf-focused horses and they will have a place to run up north.”

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We the People Makes a Strong Declaration in Seasonal Bow

5th-Keeneland, $130,000, Alw (NW3$X)/Opt. Clm ($100,000), 4-28, 4yo/up, 1 1/8m, 1:50.29, gd, 3 lengths.
WE THE PEOPLE (c, 4, Constitution–Letchworth, by Tiznow) was last seen in Parx's crowning GI Pennsylvania Derby as MGISW Taiba (Gun Runner), GISW Zandon (Upstart), and MGISW Cyberknife (Gun Runner) went on to fill the trifecta. Before that, he'd made a name for himself on the back of a 10 1/4-length score in the GIII Peter Pan S., and then ran fourth in the GI Belmont S. next out as stablemates GISW Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) and Champion 3-year-old filly, MGISW Nest (Curlin) rounded a big day for their–now shared–conditioner. Making said trainer change from Rodolphe Brisset to Todd Pletcher for this start, the betting public was not dissuaded by the lengthy layoff as they made the good looking colt the 3-5 favorite, and were not disappointed. Jumping fairly and setting the pace with ears pricked, the dark bay cruised through the first turn and shifted down to the two path as a pair of challengers pressed the point nearing the final bend. Inching away at the three furlong pole, he widened his margin of advantage to three lengths as Britain's Kitten (Big Blue Kitten) came on for second.

Out of a daughter of GISW Harmony Lodge (Hennessy), We the People is her most accomplished offspring thus far. He has a 3-year-old half-brother Absolutely Certain (Always Dreaming) as well as two other younger half-brothers–a 2-year-old by Audible and a yearling by More Than Ready. Letchworth is a half to MGSP Armistice day (Declaration of War) and GSW Stratford Hill (A.P. Indy). This is the female family of GISP Graeme Hall (Dehere) and GISW Pinehurst (Twirling Candy). Sales history: $110,000 Wlg '19 KEENOV; $220,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP; $230,0002yo '21 FTFMAR. Lifetime Record: GSW, 8-4-1-0, $524,843. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
O-WinStar Farm LLC, Bobby Flay, CMNWLTH and Siena Farm LLC; B-Henley Farms Inc. (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher.

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