Tag: Belmont Stakes

The Week in Review: A Belmont Stakes at Saratoga and How to Make it Work

Just a few days after the running of this year's GI Belmont S., the final leg of the Triple Crown was back in the news. With the Belmont grandstand set to be torn down after the 2024 spring meet and with the new stands not expected to be ready until 2026, the 2025 Belmont S. will likely need a home. And after hinting that the race could be run in Saratoga, the New York Racing Association was more specific when the topic was addressed early last week. When asked by the TDN about plans for the race in 2025, NYRA's Vice President of Communications Pat McKenna had this to say: “Should the construction of a new Belmont Park require the Belmont S. to be run at a different venue, then NYRA's preference would absolutely be to hold the event at Saratoga Race Course.”

Why wouldn't it be? Running the race at Belmont amid a massive construction project won't work and neither will running it at Aqueduct. The Big A lost thousands of seats when the casino replaced a large portion of the grandstand and the place isn't, well, very nice.

So, get ready for a Belmont at Saratoga. But there is one major issue that needs to be addressed and that's the distance of the race. Traditionalists will want it to be contested at 1 1/2 miles, but that won't work. Equibase's list of Saratoga track records does not include one for a 1 1/2-mile race, which probably means there has never been a 12-furlong dirt race run there. It's easy to see why. The race would have to start at the three-eighths pole, which is at the entrance to the far turn. Especially if there is a large field, anyone drawing to the outside would be at a disadvantage, something you don't want in any race, let alone a Triple Crown race.

The only answer is to run it at a 1 1/4 miles. Think of it as a necessary adjustment, just like what happened in 2020 when the pandemic played havoc with the Triple Crown schedule and led NYRA to card the Belmont at a one-turn 1 1/8 miles.

As for the schedule, the smartest thing to do would be to start what would normally be the spring Belmont meet at Aqueduct. Belmont week at Saratoga would start on Thursday, June 5, the race would be held on Saturday, June 7 and the four-day mini-meet would end with a card on the following day. The meet could then return to Aqueduct before the regular Saratoga meet got underway.

Combining Saratoga's popularity, the importance of the Belmont S. and the uniqueness of holding the race at the mecca of Thoroughbred racing can only mean that a 2025 Belmont at Saratoga would be a smashing success and one of the most memorable Belmonts of all time.

“A Belmont S. at Saratoga is an event that would capture the attention of the entire sports world while driving tourism and economic impact for upstate New York,” McKenna said.

Doing so would mark for the second time in the modern era that the race was not run at Belmont Park. While the current Belmont grandstand was being constructed, the race was run at Aqueduct from 1963 through 1967. Here's a look at the 1963 Belmont, won by Chateaugay. In 1964, the race was won by Quadrangle.

Aqueduct and Belmont have not been the only homes to the race. While the GI Kentucky Derby has only been run at Churchill Downs and the GI Preakness S. has only been run at Pimlico, the Belmont has had four homes. It was first run in 1867 at Jerome Park, where it remained until moving to Morris Park in 1890. The race was first run at Belmont Park in 1905. Fifty-eight years later, it was moved to Aqueduct.

Thank You, Jena

This industry could not have asked for a better ambassador than Jena Antonucci, a role the trainer was thrust into after winning the Belmont with Arcangelo (Arrogate). Her story was just what a beleaguered sport needed after deaths and breakdowns dominated the news cycles through the first two rounds of the Triple Crown. Even on a day when there was another fatality, in the race run after the Belmont, the mainstream media couldn't get enough of the articulate plucky female trainer with the indefatigable spirit. She was the story Belmont day, and not all the bad news that had been hovering over the game.

Not everyone would have been comfortable with being turned into being a media darling the way she was, but Antonucci embraced it. She could have just gone about her business after the race, but, instead, honored every request from the media, knowing it was an opportunity for someone to convey a positive message about the sport to a large audience. The demands were so intense that she had to call in the NTRA to help her coordinate her schedule. Over a three-day period last week, Antonucci did 12 interviews, including one for Fox News. She was also the Green Group Guest of the Week on last week's TDN Writers' Room podcast.

Now, will the sport pay her back? It's great to have an Arcangelo in the barn, but the fact remains that Antonucci has a relatively small stable that has but one star. Aside from Arcangelo, she's had just one other graded stakes winner during her career. She won the 2016 GIII Turf Monster S. at Parx with Doctor J Dub (Sharp Humor).

How about some of the sport's major owners, ones who have dozens of horses and flock to the super trainers, give her a chance. There are so many trainers out there just like her, ones that are perfectly capable but have problems getting ahead because no one is willing to give them an opportunity. You don't have to have all 100 of your horses with Todd Pletcher, Chad Brown, Bob Baffert, et. al. Isn't there room to give five to Antonucci? She certainly deserves it.

HIWU Versus the Old Way of Doing Things

On June 11, the New York Gaming Commission posted a ruling on its website regarding a positive test for phenylbutazone in a horse trained by Todd Pletcher. Better late than never, I suppose, the alleged offense took place on July 30, 2022 at Saratoga. It was posted 316 days after the race occurred. It was pretty much the same story in the matter of Forte (Violence) testing positive for a banned substance following his win the 2022 GI Hopeful S., run on Sept. 5. That offense was made public on May 11.

How can it possibly take that long for a violation to be reported? Whatever the answer is, and there hasn't been a good one out of the Gaming Commission, it speaks to how dysfunctional the game has been when it comes to violations. It also tells you that there is a glaring lack of transparency.

Thankfully, that has changed. The Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit (HIWU), an arm of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, took over, in most states, the process of drug testing and handing out penalties on May 22. Already, we are seeing that things are different under this body.

HIWU has posted three rulings on its website under the category of “pending violations.” Two involve the use of Levothyroxine. The third, a ruling against trainer Mario Dominguez, involves the use of cobalt. All of the rulings were posted within three weeks of the alleged offenses. In the case of Dominguez, his horse, Petulant Delight (First Dude), tested positive for cobalt after winning a May 24 race at Parx. Just 15 days later, the violation was made public on the HIWU website.

These people mean business. Good for them.

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Stolen Trophies Feared Melted, Sold in Decade-Old Racing Museum Heist

Arrests have been made and one fugitive is still at large in the recent cracking of an alleged theft network that targeted sporting museums between 1999 and 2019. Included in the crime spree was the 2013 smash-and-grab heist of five trophies worth an estimated $400,000 from the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, New York.

According to the felony indictment, there appears to be no hope for recovering the looted trophies, three of which were solid gold, and one of which was the 1903 Belmont Stakes trophy valued at $150,000.

That's because in the hours following the theft, two of the alleged conspirators drove 215 miles south to a bar that one of them owned in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and “melted the trophies down into easily transportable metal pieces.”

The very next day, the alleged thieves drove to New York City, where they sold the raw materials “for approximately $150,000 to $160,000,” the indictment stated.

A methodology of target-steal-melt-sell was the blueprint for how at least nine known individuals broke into 14 museums in the Eastern United States over a 20-year span, ripping off artwork, sporting hardware, and high-value, antique memorabilia.

According to the June 6 indictment filed by prosecutors in U.S. District Court (Middle District of Pennsylvania), 20 of the stolen pieces are considered “objects of cultural heritage” as defined by the federal criminal code because they are “either over 100 years old and worth in excess of $5,000 [or] less than 100 years old and worth at least $100,000.”

The alleged thieves are also accused of a 2012 robbery at the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame in Goshen, New York, where they made off with 14 trophies and other awards worth over $300,000.

They also hit museums related with baseball, boxing and golf, looting nine World Series rings and other items once belonging to New York Yankees greats Yogi Berra and Roger Maris; six championship title-fight belts; and the U.S. amateur golf trophy once awarded to Ben Hogan.

The alleged thieves also dabbled in popular art and firearms, hauling off paintings by Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollock, plus three antique firearms worth a combined $1 million.

The trophies and awards would be stripped “of the gemstones and other valuable attachments prior to melting the objects down into easily transportable bars, disks, pucks, and other small pieces of the valuable metals,” the indictment stated.

The “objects of cultural heritage which could not be broken down, such as antique firearms and paintings,” were then sold on the black market, the indictment stated.

On one occasion, one of the alleged conspirators burned a painting by the 19th Century artist Jasper Cropsey valued at $500,000 out of fear that the artwork would be seized as evidence against the members of the conspiracy. The exact fate of many of the stolen objects remains unknown.

In its coverage of a June 15 press conference, the New York Times reported that prosecutors underscored “the remarkable disregard that the suspects had for such culturally significant memorabilia, given how the melted down pieces were sold for a fraction of what the actual items had actually been worth.”

But, the Times added, “their tactic seemed to indicate that the suspects fully understood the shadowy scheme they were engaging in, preferring easy money grabs over underground dealings that would put them more at risk of being caught.”

Charged via indictment were four Pennsylvania men: Nicholas Dombek, 53; Damien Boland, 47; Alfred Atsus, 47; and Joseph Atsus, 48. They were indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiracy to commit theft of major artwork, concealment or disposal of objects of cultural heritage, and interstate transportation of stolen property.

Dombek was further charged with a substantive count of interstate transportation of stolen property. The Times reported he was still at large as a fugitive at the time of the press conference.

Five other Pennsylvanians were charged by “felony information” (meaning a grand jury's vote was not required) for the same conspiracy: Thomas Trotta, 48; Frank Tassiello, 50; Daryl Rinker, 50; Dawn Trotta, 51; and Ralph Parry, 45.

The indictment gave a glimpse of how the National Racing Museum heist was planned and executed.

It is unclear, though, if the thieves intentionally timed their break-in there to coincide with a relative lull in Saratoga. The racing season at the historic track right across the street had just concluded 10 days before, making for a mass exodus of tourists and racing-industry workers.

“Prior to Sept. 13, 2013, Nicholas DOMBEK, Damien BOLAND, and Conspirator No. 1 made multiple visits to the National Racing Museum and Hall of Fame [to] view objects of cultural heritage displayed therein and to observe the security measures protecting said objects,” the indictment stated.

Then, in the overnight hours of Sept. 13, Boland drove Conspirator No. 1 to Saratoga, “where Conspirator No. 1 entered the National Racing Museum and Hall of Fame without authorization, smashed multiple glass display cases with a center-punch tool and grinder, and stole and removed five trophies displayed therein.”

Published news accounts at the time described how the thief was able to navigate the unlit corridors of the landmark Union Avenue building without triggering perimeter alarms.

In the museum's steeplechase gallery, Conspirator No. 1 took trophies from the 1914 Brook Cup Handicap Steeplechase (won by Compliment) and the 1923 Grand National Steeplechase (won by Sergeant Murphy). He then moved to the post-Civil War gallery, and from a single case pilfered trophies from the 1903 Belmont S. (won by Africander), the 1903 Brighton Cup (won by Hermis), and the 1905 Saratoga Special (won by Mohawk II).

Upon exiting the museum, Boland drove Conspirator No. 1 and the looted objects 1.7 miles to the parking lot of the Saratoga Casino Hotel, where Conspirator No. 1 transferred the trophies to his own car. The two then drove their separate vehicles 190 miles south to the parking lot of a Denny's restaurant in Dickson City, Pennsylvania, “to inventory the trophies stolen,” the indictment stated.

They then proceeded another seven miles or so to Scranton, where they met up at a bar called Collier's, owned by Boland, to melt down the trophies, the indictment stated.

The next day they drove together to New York City “and sold the pieces to an individual known to the Grand Jury,” the indictment stated.

After Sept. 14, “Conspirator No. 1 paid Nicholas DOMBEK $30,000 from the proceeds…in exchange for DOMBEK's help in planning the theft,” the indictment stated.

The maximum penalty under federal law for the conspiracy count is a five-year imprisonment, while each of the other offenses calls for a 10-year maximum sentence.

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NYRA: If Necessary, We’d Prefer Belmont-at-Saratoga

With the construction of the new Belmont Park scheduled to begin after the spring 2024 meet, and plans for the 2025 event still uncertain, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) expressed their preference that a non-Belmont-Park Belmont Stakes be held at Saratoga rather than Aqueduct.

“Should the construction of a new Belmont Park require the Belmont Stakes to be run at a different venue, then NYRA's preference would absolutely be to hold the event at Saratoga Racecourse,” said NYRA's Director of Communications, Patrick McKenna, in a text to the TDN on Monday.

In an interview on this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast, NYRA CEO David O'Rourke said that plans call for the new Belmont to be finished before the 2026 Belmont, and early conversation with NYRA had centered on possibly holding the Belmont at Aqueduct in 2025 and even 2026 if necessary. Other options, like tents at Belmont, have also been discussed. “Right now, we're in the master planning stage,” said O'Rourke on the Writers' Room. “Ideally, we'd like to have the project completed for the 2026 Belmont. I'm saying that before we have gone deep into the planning and the staging, but that is our goal entering into the process.”

However, said McKenna, “A Belmont Stakes at Saratoga is an event that would capture the attention of the entire sports world while driving tourism and economic impact for upstate New York.”

The current Belmont was opened in 1968, and will be torn down and rebuilt courtesy of a $455-million loan from the state of New York.

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