Belmont History: Edward Brown Went From Slave To Jockey To Trainer To Owner In A Lifetime

Our readers here at the Paulick Report seem to love a good lookback at horse racing history. In considering the best subjects for our 2020 Triple Crown coverage, this seemed like a good time to make note of the crucial role black horsemen have played in the early days of our sport, and in this series of races. Many of the sport's most revered heroes around the turn of the 20th century were ridden, cared for, trained, and sometimes owned by black horsemen whose equine expertise sometimes stretched back generations. While some, like jockeys Jimmy Winkfield and Isaac Murphy, have been the subjects of well-researched biographies in recent years, others may be less known to racing fans. It is clear that their contributions played an essential role in the lives of horses that became influential in American Thoroughbred history and bloodlines.

Ahead of each of this year's Triple Crown races, we plan to release a profile on a black horseman from racing history whose story may be unfamiliar to you.

Edward Dudley Brown was a man of many names in his 56 years, and also stood behind many of the biggest names in horse racing following the Civil War.

Brown began his life as a slave, born in 1850 in Fayette County, Ky., and was sold at the age of seven along with his cousin to Robert A. Alexander of Woodburn Stud in neighboring Woodford County. The details on the early part of Brown's life are scant, other than he demonstrated an interest in fast horses not long after his arrival to Woodburn and learned to ride, probably at around the time political tensions in the United States were reaching a boiling point.

Brown's interest in racehorses was probably not considered out of place for a young slave at the time. Horse racing had evolved in this country as a sporting outlet for wealthy landowners. Horses were a common part of daily life in the 1700s and 1800s of course, so it was natural that one farmer should suggest to another that he had the fastest horse in either of their barns. Eventually, the most enthusiastic race fans imported English Thoroughbreds and began breeding horses specifically to race.

Since those who could afford 'blooded' horses were often gentlemen farmers, they typically knew how to ride and knew the basics of how a barn should run, but that didn't mean they wanted to do the work themselves. Prior to the Civil War, this meant the task of not just grooming but also riding and training often fell to slaves.

In her book 'Race Horse Men,' writer Katherine Mooney notes that when African slaves were brought to this country, they brought with them generational knowledge of horses. North Africans and Middle Easterners brought horses and horsemen to West Africa, and the region became known for its equestrianism. For some Africans brought to the colonies in slavery, horses may have been a part of their background since the Mali Empire (which existed from the early 1200s to mid-1600s).

This left those slaves in charge of racing barns in a tricky position – they were respected for their superior expertise, but still classified as inferior beings behind whites. They had some physical freedom to travel and to manage other slaves underneath them, but were by no means free. They helped their owners win purse money and wagers placed alongside the race route, but were not paid themselves. They were heralded for their skills in the saddle, but could be (and were) threatened with lynching if they were judged not to have put in their best effort.

Mooney writes that white horsemen grew to rely on the black horsemen who ran their barns, working closely alongside them, developing a strangely dichotomous relationship.

“Examining the confined world of the track, we can unpick those knots and see that white turfmen were often strikingly sincere in the ties they professed with black horsemen, with these particular privileged slaves,” she writes. “But as clear as their sincerity is their complete inability to see black horsemen as full human beings. They recognized these black men as competent professionals and often as congenial companions. But they only saw black horsemen in relation to themselves; they could hardly imagine them with lives and feelings in which white interests played no part. This view of human beings as useful instruments was smotheringly all-encompassing, far deeper than any individual affection or sentimentality, malice or hypocrisy.”

It was into this strange dynamic that Brown rose to power, or as much power as he was allowed by the color of his skin.

It quickly became clear that he was a skilled rider, and also talented as a foot racer. Brown would sometimes gallop a horse named Brown Dick, who was best known for setting a record in 1856 for three-mile heats. Legend has it that Brown was so quick on two feet that people compared him to the well-known Thoroughbred and began calling him by the same name. The nickname stuck, so much so that at his death, a number of industry publications referred to him as “Brown Dick” – which had to be puzzling for fans of the equine Brown Dick.

It seems to have been tradition in those days to refer to slaves by their first names only, making it somewhat challenging for researchers to trace an enslaved jockey's career. Further confusing the matter, Brown was often referred to simply as “Dick,” rather than “Ed” or “Edward.” Slaves were sometimes specified by their owner's name, so he occasionally appears in written record as “Alexander's Dick” and we are left to assume Robert A. Alexander had no other riders by the same first name. Regardless, Brown quickly caught Alexander's attention and was assigned to ride his first race aboard Woodburn's Asteroid, one of the best sons of the great Lexington, when Brown was just 14. The pair won races in St. Louis and a $750 stakes at Woodlawn in Louisville, and a couple of walkover heats.

It was not long after that first race the Thirteenth Amendment was passed, releasing Brown and thousands of others into a society that had largely not contemplated a place for them. Brown did have a sense for his place in the world thanks to racing, and continued working for Alexander, riding Asteroid and Maiden (dam of Hall of Famer Parole) and others until Alexander's death in 1867. Daniel Swigert, longtime farm manager at Woodburn, would leave two years later to launch Stockwood Stud, and Brown followed him. (Swigert would eventually be the great-grandfather of Spendthrift's Leslie Combs II and owned Elmendorf Farm, the precursor to Spendthrift.)

An 1864 painting by Edward Troye depicts Asteroid with his trainer Ansel Williamson (R), unidentified groom, and his jockey Edward Brown (L, kneeling).

Riding for Stockwood, Brown piloted stakes winners Virgil, Edinburgh, Blind Tom, and others. He entered the Triple Crown history books for the first time aboard Kingfisher, who he rode to victory in the 1870 Belmont Stakes, then held at 1 5/8 miles at Jerome Park.

Now in his twenties, Brown became too heavy to be a flat jockey and rode steeplechasers with some success for a couple of years before becoming a trainer for Swigert. His first success was with stakes winner King Alfonso (who would go on to sire winners of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont), followed by Bombay and Baden-Baden.

Swigert was in the habit of selling horses at the end of their juvenile seasons if they showed some promise on the racetrack, which often took the best horses out of Brown's barn before their strengths were fully realized. This was the case with Spendthrift, who Swigert sold for $15,000 as a 2-year-old before he won the 1879 Belmont and became the great-grandsire of Man o' War. Hindoo was also sold off by Swigert after showing success at two, and went on to win the Kentucky Derby.

In the case of Baden-Baden though, Brown got to have at least some of the glory. He saddled the son of Australian (GB) in the third Kentucky Derby, where he prevailed by two lengths. Soon after the race, Swigert sold Baden-Baden to William Astor for $12,000.

Brown eventually moved on to work for Col. Milton Young (who at one time kept his racehorses at McGranthiana, later renamed Maine Chance), bringing the Young stable to the fifth-leading owner in the country in 1881. He would also condition horses for R.C. Pate, Col. James E. Pepper, and W.S. Barnes (the latter two often racing in partnership as Melbourne Stable). He nearly won the Derby again in 1886, as trainer of Blue Wing but was edged out a nose by Ben Ali.

All the while, Brown was putting his money away. He was described, in the few news clippings which bothered to describe him, as a quiet person not given to gambling or other habits that necessitated big spending. He was happy to give a tip to friends and reporters when he felt good about one of his horses, but seemed uninterested in risk himself.

“You see one side of Brown Dick's character when questions of fact are disputed before the judges and men accept his word as weightier evidence than the affidavits of many men,” wrote the Louisville Courier-Journal. “Another side you see when a party of ladies and children visit the stables. Brown Dick is never happier than when his hat is doffed, he is leading them from stall to stall and answering their absurd questions, with gentleman courtliness worthy of a wigged and ruffled cavalier.”

Often painted as a somewhat hunched man, slowed by arthritis, often sporting a trademark blue and white coat flapping in the breeze by the rail, Brown was already known as a fixture on the racetracks in Central Kentucky. When he had saved up enough money, Brown made the transition that churns the stomach of any trainer – he decided to buy and train his own stock.

Brown zeroed in on Swigert's strategy of buying stock and selling them just as their careers were heating up. He paid $4,500 for Plaudit as a yearling and would sell him to John E. Madden for $6,500 after the horse built up a juvenile resume. Plaudit would become a Kentucky Derby winner and key stallion for Hamburg Place. Brown's greatest success however, was a yearling he picked out at the Runnymede Farm yearling sale in 1894 named Ben Brush.

Brown went in on the $1,200 yearling with trainer Eugene Leigh, as the two evidently agreed this made more sense than bidding against each other. Strangely, little seems to have been written about the partnership, which was somewhat unconventional for the time since Leigh was white.

By all accounts, Brown lost his heart to Ben Brush. One turfwriter depicts him outside his training barn one afternoon, carefully overseeing the horse's grazing with a combination of fondness and nerves familiar to any trainer who knows they have something special.

“He's my kind of horse,” Brown told the Louisville Courier-Journal. “I like these steady-headed, sensible colts. You know I don't bet, but don't forget little Ben when he starts. He's one of the best I ever handled.”

Brown and Leigh turned down several cash offers for Ben Brush but eventually yielded to a sum reported between $12,000 and $18,000 (between $310,000 and $466,000 today) after his first five starts as a juvenile. Ben Brush would also win the Kentucky Derby but really left his mark as a sire – he was leading sire of 1909 and is still prevalent in the far reaches of many modern champions' pedigrees.

At the turn of the century, Brown began struggling with tuberculosis and rheumatism. He was thought to have saved some $100,000 from his career on the racetrack, making him one of the wealthier black Americans of his time according to some newspaper reports. Brown died in 1906 at a fellow trainer's home in Louisville. Obituaries describe him as struggling with his health for several of his last years and noted that he was penniless at the time of his death, though it's unclear what happened to his fortune. A fund was started on the backstretch to help pay for his funeral, and at least one of his biggest competitors – a white owner named Ed Corrigan – was one the first contributors.

Brown was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1984. In 1999, a plaque was placed in Midway, Ky., where Brown was buried, to commemorate his accomplishments. Then-Gov. Brereton Jones was on hand for the dedication, which was covered by the Lexington Herald-Leader.

“Jones said that the racing industry didn't feel Brown's effect until years later, but that his voice is heard today,” wrote Travis Mayo. “'He speaks very loudly and clearly that this is the Thoroughbred capitol of the world and that anybody who is willing to work can be a success,' Jones said. 'Because if a black man in the midst of slavery can succeed at it, surely the rest of us as free people, who are inhibited only by our own lack of vision or lack of fortitude, can succeed.'”

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Not This Time, Speightster Join Exclusive Club With Seven-Figure Juveniles

The reconfigured racing and auction calendar has allowed freshman sires to emerge simultaneously as leaders on the racetrack and in the auction ring, and the two stallions who have best grasped the opportunity in the early stages of 2020 are Not This Time and Speightster.

Both sires are already off the mark with their first winners, and they each stepped out on the commercial stage to have seven-figure juveniles from their respective first crops at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. Spring 2-Year-Olds In Training Sale.

Not This Time, a Grade 3-winning son of Giant's Causeway, had the sale-topper when Gary Young signed on a filly for $1.35 million. Speightster, a Grade 3 winner by Speightstown, jumped in during the auction's final offerings when Christina Jelm, bidding on behalf of Larry Best's OXO Equine, bought a colt for $1.1 million.

Not This Time and Speightster became the 19th and 20th North American stallions to knock down a seven-figure offering in their first crops of 2-year-olds since 2000, joining a group that also includes Hennessy, Stormy Atlantic, Sea of Secrets, Stephen Got Even, Fusaichi Pegasus, Dixie Union, Tiznow, Songandaprayer, Exchange Rate, Red Bullet, Johannesburg, Vindication, Mineshaft, Speightstown, Big Brown, Orb, Liam's Map, and American Pharoah.

However, getting over the million-dollar mark in that initial crop is no guarantee of short-term or long-term success at stud, with each member of the club's lot in life varying wildly from their common flashpoint.

For this analysis, we'll take a look at how the first 18 sires in the club – the “Group of 18,” for simplicity's sake – progressed at three different key points in their careers.

First, we'll see how their seven-figure auction horse fared to gauge immediate success. Then, we'll see how each stallion ranked among their respective freshman sire classes. Finally, we'll take a look at the big picture, and see how the group has performed throughout the course of their stallion careers.

In The Short Term – The Seven-Figure Sale Grads

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pressure on a seven-figure juvenile to perform on the racetrack is intense enough without adding the magnifying glass of having to help prove his or her freshman sire's credentials, to boot. No single runner can define a stallion's resume, but a seven-figure auction grad naturally becomes a billboard for what the market deems as the best that stallion has to offer.

None of the first-crop seven-figure juveniles by the “Group of 18” successfully paid for themselves on the racetrack, and their average earnings are just over $200,000. However, several of them carved out solid resumes in competition, which led to successful careers in the breeding shed.

The two gold standards in this regard are Munnings, the first seven-figure juvenile for Speightstown; and Harmony Lodge, who carried the banner for Hennessy.

After breezing an eighth in :10 flat at the 2008 Fasig-Tipton Calder Selected 2-Year-Olds In Training Sale, Munnings sold to the Coolmore partnership for $1.7 million, the second-highest price of the sale. He'd go on to make $742,640 at the races, highlighted by victories in the Grade 2 Woody Stephens Stakes, Tom Fool Handicap, and Gulfstream Park Sprint Championship Stakes. He now resides at Ashford Stud in Versailles, Ky., where he nears a decade of service as one of the farm's most reliable stallions.

Harmony Lodge sold to Eugene Melnyk for $1.65 million at the 2000 Fasig-Tipton Calder Sale, and she'd go on to earn more than any other horse in the seven-figure freshman juveniles club, at $851,120. Her five graded stakes wins over five seasons of racing include the Grade 1 Ballerina Handicap, making her the group's only Grade 1 winner. She then went on to become a highly productive broodmare, with her progeny to date including Grade 3 winner Stratford Hill and Grade 3-placed stakes winner Armistice Day.

The most active horse of the group was Maltese Tiger, from the first crop of WinStar Farm's Tiznow, who raced 34 times, primarily in the claiming ranks at Turf Paradise and Emerald Downs. He won 10 times and finished second in another 13 races to earn $95,017.

His is one of the more curious paths among the group. After bringing $1 million at the 2005 Fasig-Tipton Calder sale, Maltese Tiger debuted as a 5-year-old at Turf Paradise for a $30,000 claiming tag, and finished an unclaimed second. He'd run to age nine, and after finishing his career at Les Bois Park, he became a sport horse.

In total, seven of the millionaires by the incumbent “Group of 18” were graded stakes winners. Two are unraced, though Manilenyo, an American Pharoah colt secured by Coolmore for $1.65 million at last year's Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale, is still in the midst of his 3-year-old season and has time to build his resume.

In The Mid-Term: The Freshman Sire Race

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The performance of a sire's first crop in their 2-year-old season can define the trajectory of an entire stud career. A quick start can set a horse up for life, while a slow starter can lose the attention of mare owners, and potentially be moved to a secondary market by impatient farms.

With that in mind, the “Group of 18” finished all over the board in the freshman sire standings during their respective seasons, and where they finished in their rookie years was no guarantee of their long-term prospects.

For Not This Time and Speightster, the ideal roadmap for the remainder of the year probably looks like the one Johannesburg took in 2006.

Johannesburg saw La Traviata go to the Coolmore partnership for $1.1 million at that year's Fasig-Tipton Calder sale, and the filly was on the frontlines for her sire's near-sweep of the freshman standings. The stallion ended the year first among rookie sires by runners, winners, stakes winners, and graded stakes winners, and second by earnings, helped greatly by Scat Daddy's wins in the G1 Champagne Stakes and G2 Sanford Stakes. La Traviata contributed to the equation with a score in the G3 Victory Ride Stakes.

Johannesburg had seven total stakes winners in his freshman season, which was the most among the “Group of 18,” and one better than Fusaichi Pegasus. His three graded winners tied with Triple Crown winner American Pharoah for the most in the group, as well.

Among the “Group of 18,” if Johannesburg did not claim the top spot in a significant freshman category, he finished second to Ashford Stud's American Pharoah.

The son of Pioneerof the Nile became the second sire in the group to have a Breeders' Cup winner among his freshman-sired runners, when Four Wheel Drive took last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. He joined Tiznow, who had Folklore in the 2005 Juvenile Fillies.

American Pharoah was part of a deep and diverse freshman class last year, but the fervor surrounding his historic Triple Crown win brought in a high volume of mares to his first book, and in turn put a high volume of runners on the track. He led the freshman class of 2019 by runners, winners, and earnings, and he was second by stakes winners (four) and graded winners (three).

Among the “Group of 18,” his 72 runners and 27 winners were the most in the club during their respective freshman seasons, and his progeny earnings of $2,703,916 was nearly $1 million ahead of second-place Johannesburg.

Also of note, Tiznow was the only group member with an Eclipse Award winner in his freshman season, with Breeders' Cup winner Folklore also taking home champion 2-year-old filly honors.

What's especially interesting about this snapshot of the group is who performed poorly.

Mineshaft entered stud at Lane's End in 2004 off a Horse of the Year campaign a season earlier, and the commercial interest made itself clear when B. Wayne Hughes went to $1.75 million for Patricia's Gem at 2007 Keeneland April 2-Year-Olds In Training Sale.

However, Mineshaft mustered just nine winners from his freshman crop, ranking him 25th in his class. His runners made $311,830, good for 17th. He had one overall stakes winner, and no graded winners. Patricia's Gem went on to become a Grade 1-placed runner in later seasons, but she was winless at two.

Stephen Got Even, who also stood at Lane's End, also failed to get off the mark early after Dubai Dreamer sold to Godolphin for $3.1 million at the 2004 Calder sale. He finished his first year with seven winners (32nd in his freshman class), no stakes winners, and $317,857 in progeny earnings (26th among freshmen and second-least among the “Group of 18”).

As will be seen in the next section, Lane's End was rewarded for its patience with both stallions after their first youngsters didn't keep pace with the lofty juvenile sale prices. Stephen Got Even stood 15 seasons at Lane's End until his pensioning at the end of 2015, and he is buried on the farm. Mineshaft is wrapping up his 17th season at stud, and has become a prolific source for classic runners.

In The Long-Term: The Full Career

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The most important question for any sire that starts fast in the commercial arena is whether they can sustain that early momentum over the course of their stud career. Like the first two touchstones, there is no clear-cut trail among the “Group of 18,” but the outcomes are generally more positive than negative.

The stallion with arguably the most complete resume after getting a seven-figure juvenile at auction from his first crop is Tiznow.

Not only is the son of Cee's Tizzy the only member of the “Group of 18” to chalk up both an Eclipse Award winner (Folklore) and a classic winner (Da'Tara in the 2008 Belmont Stakes), he leads all sires in the group by progeny starts in Triple Crown races (14) and his two Breeders' Cup victories (Folklore in the 2005 Juvenile Fillies and Tourist in the 2016 Mile) ties him for first with Speightstown and Stormy Atlantic.

Speightstown, a fellow WinStar Farm resident, has also fared well in his stud career, leading this group by Breeders' Cup starts by a wide margin, with 32, including 2016 Dirt Mile winner Tamarkuz and 2019 Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Sharing. He also leads the group by earnings with $111,713,652, which is especially impressive considering the stallion has never had a starter in a Triple Crown race.

After a quiet start in his freshman season, Mineshaft has compiled one of the more impressive resumes in the group, especially in regards to classic starts. The 12 appearances by Mineshaft offspring ranks him a close second behind Tiznow, and he is one of just seven in the group with a Breeders' Cup winner.

Vindication, Dixie Union, and Hennessy saw their careers cut short by early deaths. Dixie Union in particular made the most of his abbreviated time at stud, with 2012 Belmont Stakes winner Union Rags making his sire one of just two in the group with a U.S. classic winner.

Four sires have gotten Eclipse Award winners, and fittingly, three of them were for 2-year-olds. In addition to Folklore bringing home the hardware for Tiznow, Johannesburg snagged champion juvenile male honors for Hennessy in 2001, and Stevie Wonderboy earned the same title for Stephen Got Even in 2005. Stormy Atlantic is the outlier in the group, with Stormy Liberal winning the champion turf male title in 2018.

Two sires in the “Group of 18” sired future group members themselves. Hennessy is the sire of champion juvenile Johannesburg, while Speightstown brought in the 20th member, Speightster.

The Kentucky stallion market can be quick to relocate a stallion if they underperform, but this group has done an admirable job sticking around. As the 2020 breeding season draws to a close, 11 of the 18 veteran members have spent their entire Northern Hemisphere stallion careers in Kentucky. Meanwhile, Stormy Atlantic and Exchange Rate moved to Kentucky early in their stud careers, after their first crops started fast when they were Florida residents.

On the other side of the coin, the title for the least successful member of the “Group of 18” by lifetime achievement likely falls to Sea of Secrets.

The stallion gained plenty of buzz when his colt Diamond Fury sold for a then-world record $2.7 million at the 2003 Barretts March Sale, but Sea of Secrets never found his footing at the highest level of competition. After standing his first five seasons at Walmac Farm in Lexington, Ky., he was moved to California, where he remained for the rest of his career.

Though he became a respectable sire in his new home state, Sea of Secrets' three graded stakes winners was the least among the group members with 10 or more crops of racing age, and American Pharoah matched the feat in his freshman season alone.

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Lamoreaux: ‘Cripple Crown’ Or Not, There Is Nothing Like The Belmont

Something is glaringly missing in all the conjecture about this year's so-called Triple Crown – the energy and the engrained memories that all you “improvers of the breed” bring to the sport.  When Chic Anderson up in the Belmont announce booth intoned, “they're on the turn and Secretariat is moving like a tremendous machine,” my feet felt like they came off the ground and the sweat poured out of me as a full-throated roar enveloped the race track.  

Even if you weren't there but are old enough to have seen the race on television, it's a memory that must be forever etched in your psyche, Secretariat running like  the wind at the end of a mile-and-a-half.  My longtime CBS colleague Heywood Hale “Woodie” Broun, who was part of that broadcast team, said he saw fans waving their $2 winning tickets in the air, never intending to cash them in. “That was to be their souvenir because when you are in the presence of  something marvelous, some little piece of it, like a piece of glitter, drops on you and you've got it. You've got that ticket.  Part of Secretariat's glory is with you!” 

That's what separates the Belmont crowd — with a Triple Crown on the line —  from other major sporting events. It's a fan's race, corporate connections or a large stash of cash be damned!  Connections and money may be a prerequisite to attending any Super Bowl or seventh game of the World Series.  But any guy or doll with an eye on history can usually force their way into “Big Sandy” on Belmont day — just not this year.

A record 120,139 showed up in 2004 when the popular Smarty Jones lost his Triple Crown bid to Birdstone. Still, another 102,199 came in 2014 to watch West Coast heartthrob California Chrome lose to Tonalist.  And 90,327 were rewarded when undefeated Justify brought home the bacon two years ago.  While there won't be any spectators Saturday at the 152nd Belmont, the betting handle could be huge and that would really be something to celebrate for a Thoroughbred sport that is forever looking over its shoulder because of a lack of unity in its leadership. 

When the Covid pandemic took over our lives a few months back, the usual calendar markers — birthdays, weddings, Belmonts — were snatched from us. And the Belmont took a bigger hit when it was not only placed first in the Triple Crown lineup, but also had its distance shortened to a mile-and-an-eighth. That shouldn't be too tough a get for these maturing 3-year-olds, but it will not really battle-test them.  For nearly a century now the Belmont has always been the musclebound cleanup hitter.  Now it's just a table setter trying to get on base.

For the record, the “test of the champion” Belmont has a storied history.  It was first a “wrong way” race, run clockwise, English style until 1920.  It had its beginning in Jerome Park, birthplace of modern American racing located in the Bronx, New York.  Leonard Jerome, founder of the American Jockey Club had a daughter, Jennie, who gave birth to Winston Churchill.  And, on a grand opening day in September of 1866, the biggest celebrity in the house was Civil War Commanding General of the Army Ulysses S Grant, soon to be President of the United States. 

Turf writer Joe Palmer and his classic book, “This Was Racing”

I found those incidental facts in “This Was Racing,” selected columns by the splendid turf writer Joe H. Palmer, published in 1953.  Palmer, a Kentucky-born college professor and PhD candidate who went on to grace the sports pages of the New York Herald Tribune alongside the columns of his Hall of Fame pal, the great Red Smith, had no doubt that the Preakness and even his sacred Kentucky Derby paled in comparison to the Belmont.  

In his opinion, “The Belmont is a better race than either of them, and who has to tell you so?  Why, a Kentuckian, probably now barred.  If you doubt it, read down the list of winners and then dig into the books to see how they went into the stud and sent the great racers back.” 

Palmer loved the race track too,  “It hasn't the homey charm of, say, Keeneland or the intimacy of Pimlico, or the nostalgic somnolence of Saratoga — (but) Belmont lies over other metropolitan tracks like ice cream over hay and the quality of its racing is the highest in the nation.”

The Belmont has always held a sweet spot with me, ever since I began covering the Triple Crown for CBS News back in 1969 with Woodie Broun. That's the year Canadian industrialist Frank McMahon, owner of Majestic Prince, uttered the immortal words, “the Cripple Crown.” 

We were interviewing McMahon on the eve of the race, where his horse was a short favorite over arch-rival Arts and Letters and rumors were rampant that Majestic Prince was not sound. The pair had been a neck apart in both the Derby and Preakness, with Arts and Letters flying at the end, but coming up a head short each time.

Frank had been out partying the night before and looked it.  Woodie asked him what it was like to be on the cusp of history.  He stared into the camera for what seemed like an eternity and then out came something like, “Well Woodie,  the Cripple Crown …”   Majestic Prince finished a  game second to Arts and Letters, but came out of the race lame and never raced again.  

So, maybe that's all we have this year, a “Cripple Crown” that few denizens trackside will be talking about this Belmont day due to the peculiar circumstances surrounding the race.   And to all those who want to shake up the old order or to change the classic Belmont distance, beware.  History is never kind to those who ignore it.

For now, let's consider the words of Joe Palmer from Kentucky, who wasn't shy back in the day in reminding the hard-bitten New York bettors that on Belmont day it's history that matters most.   “On race day I want a band.  I don't care if it plays 'The Sidewalks of New York' or 'Camptown Races' when the Belmont field comes out, but I want it to say something that says to the assembled multitude, 'Look chums, this isn't the ninth race.  This is the Belmont!'”

E.S “Bud” Lamoreaux III is a creator and former executive producer of CBS News Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt.  He won four Eclipse Awards for national television excellence.

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