For it was Ellis who, 40 years ago this coming week, made a decision that altered the course of my life.

McGrath obviously had a wonderful time at Lil's Coffee House in Paris, Ky., listening to the yarns spun by Ellis, now 92, renowned veterinarian Bob Copelan (97), and the youngster of the trio, Stone Farm owner Arthur Hancock (81).

Forty years ago, when I was a mere 25 and Ellis 52, he decided to leave his position as breeding columnist for Daily Racing Form to train a small string of horses he and his wife owned.

I was interviewed by Logan Bailey, who managed the small Daily Racing Form office in Lexington, and was offered the position Ellis was vacating.

While Ellis grew up on Dixiana Farm–which his father managed–and had a wealth of knowledge about Thoroughbreds, my initial foray into the industry was as a handicapper (something I still enjoy today).

Now any good handicapper inherently learns about pedigrees, but, honestly, I knew very little at the time about such topics as breeding and sales.

During the interview, Logan (now deceased) asked me if I could spend time with any one person who would it be. I guess most people answer with the president, or an astronaut, or the Pope … I don't know. I said Secretariat.

There were only four persons in the DRF office, which was located in the Keeneland clubhouse, in some of the track's original stalls. I often wondered what horses had stabled where I now had my desk and typewriter.

I started the Monday after the Kentucky Derby, and that timing was also interesting. Because I had said I wanted to meet Secretariat, Logan had arranged for me to visit Claiborne Farm and do just that. The week after the 1984 Derby was special at Claiborne because the Derby winner, Swale (Seattle Slew–Tuerta, by Forli), was bred by Claiborne and raced by the farm in partnership with William Haggin Perry, Peter Brant and Edward Cox Jr.

Here I was, just a few days after the Derby and new at my job, being shown not only Secretariat, but the incredible roster of stallions, by farm managers John Sosby and Gus Koch.

That day, I briefly met farm president Seth Hancock, with whom I had numerous subsequent conversations over the years.

Of course, the story of Swale ended up being bittersweet. He also won the GI Belmont S. for trainer Woody Stephens, but eight days later collapsed and died. Though no definitive cause was determined, an autopsy discovered lesions in the heart area which could have been responsible for his death.

Chris McGrath, Ercel Ellis, Arthur Hancock and Dr. Robert Copelan | courtesy of Chris_McGrath.

When Secretariat died Oct. 4, 1989, Logan informed me we would be allowed to attend his burial at Claiborne. But, the following morning, farm officials decided not to allow press members. We always respected that decision.

I have seen Ercel only a few times over the years. But it is always a wonderful experience for me when I do because he has as encyclopedic mind when it comes to Thoroughbreds, able to recall races and pedigrees as if it were yesterday.

I was truly honored a number of years ago when Ercel phoned and asked me to be interviewed on his radio show. I will never forget that 15 minutes.

During my 25 years regularly covering racing and breeding at Daily Racing Form, The Racing Times and The Blood-Horse, Ercel is an example of those I always jumped at the chance to spend five minutes or five hours with–such as Bob Green, Bob Courtney, Henry White, Warner Jones, Carter Thornton, Alice Chandler, Ted Bassett, Gail Hughes, Brereton Jones, Johnny Griggs, Bruce Hundley, Johnny Jones, Charlie Nuckols… and countless others–because though green when I started, I became fascinated with the history and intricacies of the industry.

It is hard to believe I was 25 when I started at Daily Racing Form and Ercel Ellis was 52. Now, I have recently started Medicare and Ercel is 92.

Where would I be had Ercel Ellis not left Daily Racing Form? Yogi Berra said, “When you get to a fork in the road, take it.”

Because of Ercel, there was a fork in the road, and I took it.

I just hope those starting in the business today will find mentors not only as knowledgeable as those I was fortunate to have, but as willing to share their knowledge.

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Think about the scope of that accomplishment for a moment. On Apr. 2, 1973, Ouzts, then 18, rode his first lifetime winner on just his second day as a licensed apprentice, guiding home an Ohio-bred colt named Rablue on a raw, drizzly afternoon at now-defunct Beulah Park.

That first trip to the winner's circle for Ouzts occurred a little more than a month before Secretariat won the GI Kentucky Derby and then raced into immortality by sweeping the Triple Crown.

How many other direct, still-on-the-track competing connections to the pre-Secretariat era endure in our sport today? Not counting owners and trainers, the answer appears to be zero.

Ouzts has racked up 29 meet-leading riding titles at Ohio tracks alone, and just last August he passed David Gall to claim fifth position on the all-time winningest riders list in North America based on victories. The Jan. 16, 2024, win at Turfway upped Ouzts's career count to 7,420, making him the winningest currently active jockey on the continent.

Ahead of Ouzts on the all-time wins list are Russell Baze (12,842), Laffit Pincay, Jr. (9,530), Bill Shoemaker (8,833) and Pat Day (8,803).

Ouzts won't close that daunting 1,383-win gap to advance another spot on the list before his career comes to a close.

But with 53,146 lifetime starts and no publicly announced retirement plans, Ouzts does have a chance at 441 more mounts to get past Baze (53,587) and claim the North American record for most lifetime starts by a jockey, according to the rankings published by Equibase.

Although he's only ridden 10 horses so far this year, Ouzts's business tends to pick up considerably in the spring when Belterra Park returns to action. In the years 2021-23, he rode 592, 485 and 388 horses per season, respectively. Yes, his riding opportunities have been slowly declining, but the lifetime mounts record is still realistically within reach.

Framing Ouzts's years-of-victory streak by saying he's won “at least one” race per year for 52 years does understate his productivity quite a bit. He's ridden more than 100 winners per year close to 40 times (his exact yearly totals predate Equibase's full statistics, which only go back to 1976).

The only true outlier year was 2006, when Ouzts won just six races. That January he cracked four vertebrae, crushed a fifth, and suffered a compound arm fracture in a Turfway spill. Amazingly, prior to that accident, Ouzts had gone 14 years without a major injury.

Doctors told Ouzts, then 51, that he was millimeters away from being paralyzed and suggested he hang up his tack for good.

Ouzts was back riding 11 months later and hasn't stopped since.

Unlike the four jockeys ahead of him on the North American all-time wins list, Ouzts isn't in the Hall of Fame, although his name does occasionally get brought up as a worthy, blue-collar candidate.

This coming Thursday, when the sport celebrates the pinnacle of the profession at the Eclipse Awards in balmy Florida, Ouzts will be back in action under the lights at wintry Turfway, where he expects to add two more mounts to a career measured more in terms of toughness and durability than trophies.

'Phantom' Building Fandom…

Don't dismiss Track Phantom's wire-to-wire, 2 3/4-length score in the GIII Lecomte S. just because jockey Joel Rosario was able to secure the lead and milk the pace. This Steve Asmussen-trained son of Quality Road is now 3-for-3 around two turns, and while his wins might lack the flash and panache of peers ranked ahead of him on the Triple Crown trail, Track Phantom is building credibility by going out and executing his speed-centric tasks without being fazed by how the competition has tried to disrupt his rhythm on the front end.

Sent off at 7-5, Track Phantom broke fluidly from the outermost post in a field of six to clear rail-drawn 11-10 favorite and 'TDN Rising Star' Nash (Medaglia d'Oro). Although it initially appeared as if this maneuver might be requiring a costly expenditure of energy, when a first-quarter clocking of :24.01 lit up on the tote board, the tepid tempo allayed any fears that Rosario was asking too much too soon from his mount, who adeptly settled into a comfortable cadence at the head of the pack.

Track Phantom rolled through subsequent splits of :24.35 and :24.79 with Nash edging closer, but when Rosario sensed that rival was just half a length back three-eighths out, he nudged Track Phantom to open up, and the visual at the quarter pole foretold the story of the stretch run: Track Phantom clearly had more left, while Nash was flailing under desperate urging to find another gear.

Track Phantom cruised through the long Fair Grounds home straight  unopposed through a fourth quarter timed in :24.86, with a last sixteenth in :6.72. The final clocking of 1:44.73 translated into a Beyer Speed Figure of 90, improving on his previous four-race Beyer arc of 74, 81, 88 and 89.

Owned in partnership by L and N Racing, Clark Brewster, Jerry Caroom, and Breeze Easy, Track Phantom's “how he did it” progression rates just as highly as his “how fast” metrics. The Lecomte win now marks three straight races in which this colt has been asked to deploy his early speed while figuring out how to best fight off better-positioned rivals to his inside.

'Fame' Was Faster, Though…

Track Phantom wasn't even the fastest sophomore colt out of the Asmussen barn to run 1 1/16 miles at Fair Grounds on Saturday. That 1:44.27 honor went to 10 1/4-length blowout maiden victor Hall of Fame (Gun Runner), who earned a 94 Beyer eight races earlier on the Jan. 20 card for the owner partnership of Magnier, Tabor, Smith, Westerberg, Gandharvi, and Rocket Ship Racing.

Backed to 4-5 favoritism in lifetime start number two, this $1.4-million FTSAUG colt forced markedly faster fractions from the rail than Track Phantom set, with Hall of Fame spending a good portion of his backstretch journey trying to squeeze inside of a persistent 7-2 pacemaker.

Also ridden by Rosario, Hall of Fame finally blasted through on the fence under mild far-turn urging, then ran up the score through the stretch while being kept to task before Rosario wrapped him up through the final 70 yards.

The gaudy winning margin was likely amplified by the fact that no other runners mounted serious late-race bids. But Hall of Fame scored with such commanding authority that it's logical to think a stakes engagement is next.

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The 2023 Media Eclipse Award winners are as follows:

Multimedia – TDN Writers' Room Podcast – “Wade and Carson Yost,” Sept. 20, 2023; Thoroughbred Daily News

Gulf War veteran Wade Yost and his son, Carson, joined TDN Writers' Room podcast hosts Bill Finley, Randy Moss, and Zoe Cadman on Sept. 23 for an in-depth and emotional discussion of Carson, a 31-year-old stricken with Wolf-Hirschorn Syndrome and a Grade I-winning 2-year-old, Carson's Run, named in his honor.

“I was watching the NYRA show the day that Carson's Run made his first start at Saratoga, and Maggie Wolfendale interviewed Terry Finley in the winner's circle after he won, and they talked about the story behind the naming of the horse,” said Susan Finley, Thoroughbred Daily News Publisher. “Bill Finley contacted Terry and wrote a story for that day's TDN, and when Carson's Run won the GI Summer S., Bill decided to invite Wade Jost onto the Writers' Room. We were all very moved by his openness and honesty, and his willingness to discuss Carson's situation and struggles, and what Terry's friendship and the naming of the horse has meant to him.”

“All the credit to Wade Jost, and the incredible team that combines to produce the TDN Writers' Room every week; our hosts Bill Finley, Randy Moss, and Zoe Cadman, to our producers, the TDN's Katie Petrunyak and Anthony LaRocca, and our editors Alia LaRocca and Nathan Wilkinson from the PW Media Group.”

Wade Jost added, “It's phenomenal. Overwhelming is the only word I can use. It makes us feel good that people look at this and hear this type of story and say, 'you know what, we have a story we want to tell, too.' That's awesome. It's about Carson, but also the stories written about him and, of course, your podcast. You did a great job with that and I appreciate the opportunity to have had that conversation. We continue to grow with Carson's Run and the whole horse racing industry and can't wait to see where it takes us and where it takes Carson. All the stories that go along with him are pretty phenomenal.”

Writing – Feature/Commentary – Tim Layden, NBCSports.com – “Maple Leaf Mel and the long arc of a horse racing tragedy,” Nov. 1, 2023

Tim Layden, a writer-at-large for NBC Sports, won his fourth Media Eclipse Award for “Maple Leaf Mel and the Long Arc of a horse racing tragedy.” Layden related the story of Melanie Giddings, the trainer and cancer survivor of undefeated 3-year-old filly Maple Leaf Mel–named after Giddings–who suffered a fatal injury while leading the GI Test S. at Saratoga Aug. 5.

Writing- News/Enterprise – Sean Clancy, The Saratoga Special – “The Worst Test,” Aug. 6, 2023

Sean Clancy was not originally assigned to cover the Test S. at Saratoga on Aug. 5, but sprang into action and wrote a news account of the race of the tragic consequences of the fatal accident to Maple Leaf Mel and the reactions of individuals surrounding the event.

Clancy is the co-editor and publisher of The Saratoga Special along with his brother, Joe, which they co-founded in 2001. This is the second Eclipse Award for Clancy.

Live Television Programming – NBC Sports – “The Breeders' Cup World Championships,” Nov. 3-4, 2023; Lindsay Schanzer, Senior Producer

For the fourth consecutive year, NBC Sports has won the Eclipse Award for Live Television Programming for its broadcast on NBC, Peacock, and the USA Network, of the two-day coverage of the 40th Breeders' Cup World Championships from Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California.

Feature Television Programming – Woodbine Entertainment: “SECRETARIAT The Last Race,” – Oct. 8, 2023. Airing on TSN (The Sports Network) in Canada. Tammy Gillanders, Producer

“In SECRETARIAT The Last Race,” the Woodbine Entertainment broadcast team produced a retrospective of the last race of the 1973 Triple Crown winner's career in the Canadian International on the turf at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto. The feature aired on Oct. 8, 2023, on TSN (The Sports Network) during the 2023 running of the Canadian International.

Photography – Carolyn Simancik – “Trading Horse Paint,” (Cody's Wish/National Treasure battle in Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile) The Press Box, Nov. 4, 2023

Carolyn Simancik, who has been photographing for Eclipse Sportswire since 2018, captured the most dramatic finish of the 2023 Breeders' Cup World Championships in “Trading Horse Paint,” which appeared on the Press Box website on Nov. 4, 2023.

Media Eclipse Award winners will be presented their trophies at the 53rd Annual Eclipse Awards Ceremony and Dinner at The Breakers Palm Beach in Florida on Thursday, Jan. 25.

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Secretariat's owner Penny Chenery created the award in 2010 to annually recognize the racehorse whose popularity and racing excellence best resounded with the public and gained recognition for the sport.

Though he retired to stud duty with 11 wins and career earnings of $3,106,030, it was the Godolphin homebred's connection to Cody Dorman that elicited widespread admiration and affection from fans.

“Cody's Wish embodies all that the Secretariat Vox Populi Award represents. He has wowed us with his performances on the racetrack and touched countless people's hearts with his profound connection with Cody Dorman,” said Kate Chenery Tweedy, daughter of Secretariat's late owner Penny Chenery.

Representatives of the Cody's Wish team will return to Santa Anita Park Jan. 13 for the Vox Populi Award trophy presentation as part of the day's activities.

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“I've always wanted to work with The Secretariat Center, the only aftercare organization carrying the Triple Crown winner's name,” said writer and photographer Patricia McQueen. “With this calendar series likely winding down soon, it was important to make the change now. I'm thrilled that the previous calendars raised considerable funds for Bright Futures Farm, Old Friends, LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement Society, and Victory Alliance Ranch, all very worthy organizations.”

McQueen published a book, Secretariat's Legacy, earlier this year.

“The Secretariat Center believes all horses deserve care, kindness and a purpose beyond the racetrack, and the Secretariat's Legacy calendar is such a fun way to remember all that Secretariat has done, and continues to do, for the racing industry,” added Shelley Mann, Executive Director of The Secretariat Center. “We look forward to celebrating his legacy with his fans, both old and new. Thank you to Patricia for generously supporting horses, as they transition into loving homes, through proceeds from her beautiful calendars.”

Secrettame, born in 1978, was a stakes winner at five after placing in the G2 Gazelle H. at three. Her first foal was the Mr. Prospector son Gone West, a Grade I winner and influential sire whose sire sons included Elusive Quality and Speightstown. Both of those also have a number of important sire sons standing currently, while Secrettame also produced MGSW and MGISP Lion Cavern, a full-brother to Gone West.

As with previous calendars, the Tony Leonard Collection continues to support the series with a photo of Secretariat and Ron Turcotte taken after the Kentucky Derby. Turcotte also has autographed a limited number of calendars.

The new calendars are available for $22 each, plus shipping, at SecretariatCalendar.com.

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“I think I got along pretty good with this horse in the post parade,” said winning rider Javier Castellano. “He acted very professionally. I had the best trip in the race. I was where I wanted to be today. There seemed to be a lot of speed in the race. He broke so well from the gate and put me in a good position. I just took my time and rode with a lot of patience, a lot of confidence and had the best result today.”

Favored Northern Invader (Collected) making just his fourth lifetime start and coming off an eight-length maiden victory at Belmont July 1, was shuffled was forced to steady on the first turn and raced keenly into the backstretch. He was moving with Gigante into the lane, but could match strides with the winner and came home fifth.

Gigante broke his maiden over the Colonial Downs turf last August and romped home a 6 3/4-length winner of the Sept. 6 Kitten's Joy S. in his next trip to the post. Off the board in a pair of graded efforts in Kentucky to end his juvenile campaign, the bay colt resurfaced this year with a win in the Caesars H. at Horseshoe Indianapolis in May. He was sixth in the July 1 American Derby at Ellis Park before returning to his home state to finish third in the July 15 Edward P Evans S. last time out.

Pedigree Notes:

Gigante is the 13th worldwide graded winner for Not This Time, who made headlines earlier in the week when a share to the Taylor Made stallion sold for $2 million at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale. Among his 13 graded winners, Yes This Time, Cogburn and Up to the Mark all earned their wins over the turf.

Summertime Green produced a colt by Gun Runner last year and a filly by Hard Spun this year. She was bred back to Not This Time's GI Travers S.-winning son Epicenter this year.

The mare's 2-year-old filly Afternoon Wedding (Audible) sold to Maverick Racing and Siena Farm for $160,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.

Summertime Green RNA'd for $235,000 as a yearling at the 2009 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale. She made just one start for her breeder, William Backer, finishing sixth over the Colonial lawn in 2012.

Backer purchased Gigante's third dam, Deep Enough, for $35,000 at the 1992 Keeneland November sale. Her daughter, Crab Grass, was a four-time stakes winner in Backer's colors.

#2 Gigante and @jjcjockey upset in the G2 Secretariat S. at Colonial Downs at odds of 22/1!

The 3-year-old colt is trained by Steve Asmussen.

#TwinSpiresReplay pic.twitter.com/zQtijTLxEg

— TwinSpires Racing (@TwinSpires) August 12, 2023

Saturday, Colonial Downs
SECRETARIAT S.-GII, $500,000, Colonial Downs, 8-12, 3yo, 1mT, 1:35.10, fm.
1–GIGANTE, 121, c, 3, by Not This Time
1st Dam: Summertime Green, by Empire Maker
2nd Dam: Crab Grass, by Known Fact
3rd Dam: Deep Enough, by Raise a Native
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($120,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-Iapetus Racing & Diamond T Racing; B-Ann Mudge Backer & Smitten Farm (VA); T-Steven M Asmussen; J-Javier Castellano. $306,900. Lifetime Record: 9-4-0-1, $583,550. *1/2 to Tryon Summer (Discreetly Mine), SW, $142,955.  Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Nagirroc, 121, c, 3, Lea–Emma Spencer (Ire), by Zamindar. O-Little Red Feather Racing, Madaket Stables LLC  & William Strauss, William; B-Chervenell Thoroughbreds LLC (KY); T-H Graham Motion. $99,000.
3–Silver Knott (GB), 119, c, 3, Lope de Vega (Ire)–God Given (GB), by Nathaniel (Ire). (725,000gns Ylg '21 TATOCT). O-Godolphin, LLC; B-St Albans Bloodstock LLP (GB); T-Charles Appleby. $49,500.
Margins: NK, 1 3/4, NO. Odds: 22.90, 2.20, 2.30.
Also Ran: Major Dude, Northern Invader, Mo Stash. Scratched: More Than Looks, Tee At One. Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

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In the spring of 1973, a country steeped in discord was waiting with open arms to welcome a new standard-bearer, pure and noble, better than the best of themselves. A hero emerged in the form of a charismatic horse, as burning red as a spark sprung from the torch of a god. Within his body beat a titanic heart, nearly three times the size of the average Thoroughbred's. His name was Secretariat.

The second Saturday in June dawned hot and sultry, the first day of the year to reach 90-plus degrees. In anticipation of heavy demand, the Long Island Railway had added extra cars to its Penn Station-Belmont run. I was soon seated cheek-by-jowl amongst every definition of racing's demographic in a sauna on wheels, all stoked with the hope that the 25-year Triple Crown drought would be brought to an end.

At Belmont, the heat and humidity were stifling, and every available shady spot was soon snatched. In defiance of the fire laws, fans were standing on the stairways and in the aisles, anyplace they could to catch a glimpse of the horse which had captured the country's imagination for the past five weeks. I found a few spare inches in the grandstand and guarded my ground.

The hour before post-time was a clinic in anxiety management. I wanted Secretariat to win so badly, I would have gladly traded years off my life to seal the deal. The noise from the crowd was unrelenting and rose to a crescendo when the familiar blue-and-white checkered colors of Meadow Stables appeared on the track. Secretariat's coat caught the late afternoon light and shone like burnished copper. His neck was bowed, and he walked with a demeanor which was regal in its calmness. I can recall nothing about the four other competitors. My eyes were riveted on that piece of equine perfection which carried 126 pounds and 25 years of hope on its back.

The crowd cheered, shouted, and clapped, the reverberations from the excitement so high, the air seemed to sing. Secretariat was a model of deportment throughout the playing of the traditional “Sidewalks of New York,” the announcer's introductions, and the uproarious reception from the multitude. His composure was so restrained, that it was only in the warm-up that one caught a glimpse of the enormous power of his underlying musculature.

In watching countless replays of Secretariat's Belmont, I have felt like a pilgrim returning to holy ground. What remains is a recollection of an event so transcendent that it has illuminated my life and lit my inner world for 50 years.

I will never forget the angst of watching what many considered to be a premature move by Ron Turcotte on the first turn, and the heart-cracking fear that the long sweep of Belmont's stretch would sap Secretariat's last ounce of strength. I cannot hear a replay of TV announcer Chic Anderson's classic call of “Secretariat is widening now, he is moving like a tremendous machine,” without reliving the fervor of the crowd, which recognized that they were present at that rarest of alignments–when greatness gives birth to legend; the terror that the giant grandstand would not withstand the seismic shaking of thousands of stomping feet; and the euphoria that motivated a wall of humans to rise in unison to applaud a horse that, for one moment in time, became the embodiment of as much beauty as one could ever hope to see in this world. With tears streaming as I watched Secretariat's incredible lead continue to lengthen and Ron Turcotte steal a backward glance at history, I experienced an elation so magnificent that I cannot manufacture the words to describe it.

Secretariat had run the fastest Belmont on record, shattering the old mark by an amazing 2 3/5 seconds, and he had broken the world record for 1 1/2 miles. His winning margin was a mind-boggling 31 lengths. But it was not merely a matter of time and distance. For two minutes and 24 seconds on June 9, 1973, Secretariat was the culmination of the best of his breed and the consummate expression of the highest part of ourselves. He was everything that his Maker and nature had intended. The world was not perfect that day. But he was. Fifty years later, the flame of that memory endures. His name is Secretariat.

(Watch Secretariat's Belmont below:)

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Angel of Empire (Classic Empire) and Tapit Shoes (Tapit), both equipped with white bridles and NYRA's commemorative 50th Anniversary Secretariat Belmont S. saddle towels, made a favorable impression in their first day of training for Brad Cox over Big Sandy at 6:12 a.m. Cox, represented by 2021 Belmont winner Essential Quality (Tapit), will also tighten the girth on the handsome gray Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}), who galloped with good energy nearly three hours later following the break.

Kentucky Derby third-place finisher Angel of Empire out for a spin this morning #BelmontStakes pic.twitter.com/x2dVcpMFHT

— Steve Sherack (@SteveSherackTDN) June 7, 2023

Arabian Lion (Justify), cutting back to seven furlongs for the GI Woody Stephens S. on Saturday's loaded undercard, was among the first to stretch his legs over the freshly manicured surface. His Bob Baffert-trained stablemate and GI Preakness S. winner National Treasure (Quality Road) had a light day of training, jogging the wrong way along the outer rail at 6:23 a.m. The expected Belmont S. pacesetter posted a five-furlong bullet in Elmont two days earlier.

Il Miracolo (Gun Runner), the longest shot on the Belmont morning line at 30-1, made his presence felt a few minutes later for trainer Antonio Sano while sporting a blue pair of 'AS' blinkers along with a matching shadow roll and wraps.

The imposing duo of champion Forte (Violence) and Tapit Trice (Tapit), meanwhile, were both on their toes after a 1 1/4-mile gallop and gate schooling session for Todd Pletcher on the nearby training track at 6:48 a.m. Pletcher needs one more win in the 1 1/2-mile Classic to reach even terms with the late, great Hall of Famer Woody Stephens, who won an unthinkable five straight renewals of the Belmont from 1982-86.

Pletcher Belmont duo Tapit Trice and Forte on training track pic.twitter.com/Z0HWVarRpt

— Steve Sherack (@SteveSherackTDN) June 7, 2023

Red Route One (Gun Runner) also took to the training track earlier, galloping 1 1/2 miles at 6:00 a.m.

The 'morning rush' concluded with Arcangelo (Arrogate)–who was back at it galloping on the main track a day after being credited with an unplanned four-furlong bullet workout in :48.94 (1/11)–while a small group of media assembled outside of Pletcher's barn to get a closer look at the two aforementioned likely favorites in the final leg of the Triple Crown.

With the Air Quality Index (AQI) hovering around an 'Unhealthy' 160 a day before the three-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival is slated to get underway, NYRA's Vice President of Communications Pat McKenna said in a statement, “NYRA utilizes external weather services and advanced on-site equipment to monitor weather conditions and air quality in and around Belmont Park. Training was conducted normally (Wednesday), and NYRA will continue to assess the overall environment to ensure the safety of training and racing throughout the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival.”

When the AQI is at 175 or higher, live racing could be canceled, according to HISA's air quality guidelines.

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Of course, as some powerful evocations of the time have lately reminded us, Secretariat arrived as a sunbeam into a wider world darkened by Vietnam and civic unrest. And nor should we deceive ourselves that even our own, notoriously insular community was back then immune to some of the things that vex us in 2023.

For instance, without reprising what have doubtless become tiresomely familiar objections to tinkering with the Classic schedule, let's not forget that Secretariat faced down a Triple Crown drought stretching to Citation in 1948. Obviously a still longer wait followed Seattle Slew and Affirmed, but we've found two horses equal to the task in the last eight years. Even so, the trainers are somehow trying to bully us into reconciling the paradox that they want more time between the races and therefore (assuming this indeed renders those races more competitive) to extend the intervals between precisely those Triple Crown winners that supposedly represent our best route to wider engagement.

Well, the world moves on. And it's not as though the Thoroughbred has ever permitted hard and fast rules anyway.

On the one hand, it's pretty unarguable that the old school, by exposing their horses more, helped the public to develop a rooting interest. If Flightline (Tapit) was perhaps as talented as we've seen since Secretariat, in making just six starts he barely scratched the surfaced of national attention.
And I do like to think there were other, incidental gains in the aggressive campaigning of horses, whether in terms of educating the animal or showcasing the type of genes that breeders should wish to replicate. But if Mage (Good Magic) is only the latest proof that modern trainers can prepare a raw horse even for a challenge as notoriously exacting as the Kentucky Derby, then let's roll back to that summer of '73.

Okay, so Secretariat himself had made nine juvenile starts from July 4. But if you would presume experience to be an asset at Churchill on the first Saturday in May, then how much more crucial should it be for the template itself, the most venerable race of all: the Derby at Epsom, that crazy rollercoaster with its twisting hill? Yet half a century ago, in a field of 25, the race was won on only his second career start by Morston (GB).

He was bred for Classic stamina, at any rate: by St Leger winner Ragusa (Ire) out of an Oaks runner-up (herself by a St Leger runner-up) who had already produced the 1969 Derby winner Blakeney (GB). Ragusa, incidentally, was out of a mare imported from a very old American family that had earlier produced Hard Tack, the sire of Seabiscuit. The St Leger, remember, is run over 14 furlongs. As the Japanese have reminded us, the lifeblood of the Thoroughbred is not brute speed but class: the ability not just to go fast, but to keep going fast.

That is certainly the hallmark of Galileo (Ire), whose legacy saturates the 244th running of the Derby on Saturday. With 93 juveniles and just a dozen yearlings still to come, he is represented by a single son, Artistic Star (Ire), unbeaten for one of the outstanding trainers in Europe yet available at tempting odds. Of the remaining 13 starters, eight are by sons of Galileo (including two by principal heir Frankel {GB}); two are out of his daughters; and one is out of a mare by another of his sons. That leaves just two runners to have bobbed to the surface of a European bloodstock industry that squanders mares, by the thousand, on stallions that cannot remotely satisfy the definition of class given above.

But, yes, the world moves on. Sometimes it just moves on in the wrong direction. It's a pretty dismal reflection on where our sport stands today that its greatest race has been shoehorned into the middle of lunch to avoid the F.A. Cup Final. Because what American readers may not realize is that this particular soccer match, in its heyday, also once brought England to a standstill—but has in recent years, even as the game has boomed, also lost much of its popular traction. With many managers resting star players for this tournament, you might even say that the F.A. Cup has shared the same decline in popular culture as the Derby (for which Parliament itself used to take the day off).

Fixed television schedules are also a thing of the past, with the young especially expecting to do most of their viewing “on demand.” That puts live events at a premium. In Britain, however, broadcasting rights for the most prestigious sporting events—including both the F.A. Cup Final and the Derby—are ringfenced for free channels. (Which obviously invites the paradox that the most coveted events, with no competition from channels with subscription revenue, are least likely to achieve their true market value.) Unusually, the F.A. Cup Final is broadcast simultaneously by both the BBC and ITV. And since the latter also has the rights to the Derby, racing has been unceremoniously shown its place.

By an unmissable irony, the match that has elbowed the Derby aside is being contested by Manchester City and Manchester United. As such, it is what the soccer world knows as a “derby” match between local rivals. The origin of this usage is tenuous, but some have ascribed it to the Epsom race. Horseracing, after all, long precedes football (in all its variations) in popular culture.
Yet now we find the Jockey Club taking out injunctions in anticipation of animal rights protests, even for a race in such innocuous contrast to, for instance, the Grand National. And that is without the current traumas of Churchill Downs having remotely penetrated wider consciousness on that side of the pond.

But let's resist adding another “basso profundo” to the prevailing chorus of miserabilism. Let's hope for another infectiously exciting chapter in the Epsom epic: maybe a final Derby for Dettori, who has already won two of three British Classics on his farewell tour; or perhaps one more for another old master, Sir Michael Stoute.

His runner hadn't even seen a racetrack before Apr. 20. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Mage! Passenger (Ulysses {Ire}) is actually out of a War Front mare. Fifty years on from Morston, then, perhaps Passenger would be an apt reminder that the more the world changes, the more it stays the same.

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