Even Triple Crown can’t solve horse racing’s problems

[Patuxet]

“There was a small measure of trumped-up joy during the 144th running of the Belmont Stakes, the kind of artificial happiness one finds among visitors trying to cheer themselves up at the bedside of an old friend who's dying a slow death.” Christine Brennan, USA Today

http://www.freep.com/usatoday/article/5 ... =sportsmod

Truth be told Union Rags defeated a mediocre field in a mundane time, among the slowest in the past 50 years. IMO it would have been an embarrassment if such a race had anointed the winner of the Triple Crown.

Allison

[BenB]

Without the help from all kind of med,s, drugs etc, running times will be slower than before, also because the pure stamina loaden pedigrees are outbred.

[ratherrapid]

That was a very deep track. slowed the time. we get the same glass is half empty crowd crowing every year about what is wrong with horse racing. in their amateurish observations they always miss the main things that are wrong:
1. trainers negligently injuring horses.
2. sport failing to internet advertise.

both are changing for the better, hopefully before the real danger to the sport--the Nascar it crowd--prevails.

[TJ]

Yes, the track was quite a bit slower than the day before....Dale Roman's blamed the track for Dullahan's poor performance stating it was deep and holding. He also added Dullahan will return to the turf...most likely the Va. Derby. Union Rags, who was steadied and blocked till the last 1/8th wasn't able to get clear to run any faster, beside's he didn't have to, always better not to squeeze the lemon dry:>)....yet it was still a faster time than the previous 2 Belmont Stakes won by 2011 BC Classic winner Drosselmeyer in 2010 and the other won by Ruler on Ice in 2011....decent enough horses. TJ

[kimberley mine]

Yeah, the track was slower, but Redeemed ran the same course, same distance, 2 seconds faster, eased at the 16th pole.

Yes, yes, older horse, not as much weight, etc....but still.

[TJ]

Yeah, the track was slower, but Redeemed ran the same course, same distance, 2 seconds faster, eased at the 16th pole.

Yes, yes, older horse, not as much weight, etc....but still.

Hi Kimberly,
Yes he did...24 hours earlier...I would have liked to see how fast he would have ran that distance right before or right after the Belmont Stakes.....as long as we're nit picking....he ran 1.53/100th's of a second faster. TJ

[ct2346]

Yeah, the track was slower, but Redeemed ran the same course, same distance, 2 seconds faster, eased at the 16th pole.

Yes, yes, older horse, not as much weight, etc....but still.

Hi Kimberly,
Yes he did...24 hours earlier...I would have liked to see how fast he would have ran that distance right before or right after the Belmont Stakes.....as long as we're nit picking....he ran 1.53/100th's of a second faster. TJ

Totally agree. Tracks change overnight. Just ask Beyer. He's still whining about Cormorant 35 years later.

And time differentials are so less important when you're talking about the Belmont. Early fractions play a greater part in the impact on the final time.

This is a nice horse. Maybe not a great one, but would be a deserving champion nonetheless.

[TJ]

Yeah, the track was slower, but Redeemed ran the same course, same distance, 2 seconds faster, eased at the 16th pole.

Yes, yes, older horse, not as much weight, etc....but still.

Hi Kimberly,
Yes he did...24 hours earlier...I would have liked to see how fast he would have ran that distance right before or right after the Belmont Stakes.....as long as we're nit picking....he ran 1.53/100th's of a second faster. TJ

Totally agree. Tracks change overnight. Just ask Beyer. He's still whining about Cormorant 35 years later.

And time differentials are so less important when you're talking about the Belmont. Early fractions play a greater part in the impact on the final time.

This is a nice horse. Maybe not a great one, but would be a deserving champion nonetheless.

Hi ct,
I never had much respect for Andy Beyer as a handicapper. I knew him before his figures were perfected and raised to their current status as the industry standard. Yet we have many new and improved handicapping tools/figures which are consistently leaving beyer numbers behind. Many grading the same race better than beyer speed figures rate it. Besides the normal changes a track undergoes day to day due to weather and track maintenance when looking at the Belmont Stakes, a race once around a huge sandy 1 1/2 mile oval, navigated under race condition's a few times a year adds another dimension to the raw time aspect. Take into consideration the entire oval is less likely to yield a true and consistent racing surface throughout it's entire circumference as it usually does when running sprints and middle distance races on that days card. You can see under such circumstances it becomes a very unusual race..add breaking in front of the stands at the finish line (where most horses expect to be pulled up) and racing into that first turn which is something foreign to horse and rider. Since the track will vary in depth and consistency along the way....it can and does create some slow going especially around that first turn where horses seldom find themselves racing into. I know many look at the speed of sprints on Belmont day and think the track was very fast....like Trinneberg for instance...he ran a quick 7/8ths from the 7/8ths pole to the wire....yet if they started that very race at the finish line in front of the stands as in the Belmont Stakes and raced the 7/8ths distance to the 5/8ths pole I can almost guarantee his raw time would have been slower.....that area is "no mans land" at Belmont Park :>) TJ

[Crystal]

I was there Friday and Saturday and it was quite different. It was dry and sandy on friday and deep and saturated on saturday. It was a closers track and that is what most horses did.

Glad IHA scratched, and I call BS on a tendon injury forcing retirement.. I call a cloudy 24 hour pre test and NYRA giving trainer 2 options.. Scratch the horse or spend the rest of your life regretting you ran the horse. Because the media force ready to take O'Neill to the cleaners over any medication violation is large.