I must opine on this year’s Belmont Stakes.  It started like a race of champions and it finished like a common claimer…  That’ s my “op”.  I still can’t believe that with fractions of 23.1, 46.66 and 1:10.95 that a horse like ORB, nicely placed way off the silly-fast pace, was unable to pass anyone in the stretch!  I mean I’m speechless!!!  Palace Malice and Oxbow ran as hard as they could — as far as they could — and it was an excellent strategy because nobody could take advantage of the suicidal speed duel;  not ORB, not Vyjack, not Overanalyze, not Golden Soul —not anyone….  The final number for this race is so slow that every horse (other than Palice Malice, Oxbow and Freedom Child and the really silly Frac Daddy) should all be ashamed.

I really wondered if they moved the finish line or if the teletimer was missing a beat….   OH how I miss Affirmed and Alydar and Seattle Slew and the great Secretariat who could run often and run hard…  Think about it, Secretariat tripped the teletimer in 2:24, Affirmed (on very slow going) tripped the teletimer in 2:26+ and Seattle Slew on every slower going tripped the teletimer in 2:28+.  Today’s race track was only off it’s Par by a couple of lengths, not nearly as slow as Seattle Slew or Affirmed race track was.  These guys ran in all three races, ran as hard as can be and were still SECONDS faster than this bunch!   I think the breeders’ and the maybe the trainers should be absolutely ashamed of themselves…  The past several years this race has been won by a group including Commendable, Sarava, Ruler On Ice, Jazil and now Palice Malice who clocked a final quarter in “harness horse time” of 27 3/5 seconds….  SHAMEFUL…

Did anyone feel the air being let out of the balloon, with no bang, just a fizzle.  That’ s how I felt watching the progressively slower finish WITH NO CLOSERS COMING!  Nothing wrong with the effort of Palace Malice or even Oxbow, they both raced as hard as they could, but with fractions of 23+, 46+ and 1:10 for the front 6 furlongs — they (PM and OXBOW) ran the final 6 furlongs in a shade below 1:20.   I repeat 1:20!!!  And nobody could do anything!  Orb ran terribly, Golden Soul was spent, Overanalyze was total disappointment, and my horse — Vyjack —  all I can say is “why not a jack”.   I mean common, Affirmed would have stopped the teletimer in under 2:26 if he had this fairly glib track.

Again, as I always say and this is an object lesson, find a horse that is going to run better than he has ever run or find a horse who is very consistent — always with a big price — and don’t worry that they may not be fast enough!  That’s right, because sometimes the FAST horses forget to show up FAST.  Races fall apart, good horses run bad races and the 1 1/2  mile of The Belmont is really a killer.

One comment on Vyjack, I really wish Julian Leparoux had rangled him back the Joel Rosario did in The Gotham.  Julian’s soft touch allowed that horses to get too close to the pace — out of the gate — and he consequently got spun 8 wide into the first turn and way to close to the hot pace and he took a heavy bump to boot.  I am sure there are other trips that need to be reported, and I assure you I will dutifully and objectively bring them to the fore in this space over this week…

Password holder, the Post Race Analysis will be up on Wednesday – hopefully with proper video sync..