covelj70 Wrote:
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> man o man does the Saturday card out there suck
> for what\'s suppossed to be the biggest day of the
> Belmont Fall meet.
>
> Two 5 horse fields, then 7, 8, 9, horse fields for
> 5 grade 1\'s.
>
> I know many on the board complain with some
> justification about the issues with California and
> the synthetics but what NYRA has going on it\'s
> biggest day this fall is much worse than what
> Santa Anita will have for it\'s BC prep races over
> the next few weekends.
>
> The JC is a competitive, albeit small field but
> this card is really garbage overall.
>
> I was really looking forward to this weekend for
> Belmont but really hard to get excited about this.
Kind of a whiny post, but I\'ll take the bait.
First of all, whatever is wrong with New York racing, it IS NYRA\'s fault. NYRA
held the franchise for 50 plus years and was inexplicably extended well into
the 21st Century. But what can you say about a state whose politics have come
under the scrutiny of Commissar Obama, head of the Obamunist Party?
I mean what can you say about a racing organization that gave you last
week\'s \"twin superfecta?\" And I have been saying for two years that NYRA should
have set up and promoted a big day of dirt racing to \"complement\" the Breeders
Cups at Synthetic Anita, but NYRA hasn\'t the vision, the money or the cojones
to pull something like this off.
Look if you want big fields, you have to wait for the two upcoming main events--
New York Bred Showcase Day and the Breeders Cup.
Now lets look at Saturday\'s card which has you all upset. And I am not going to
compare NY racing to racing in other venues, or dirt to synth, or Rachel A. to
the superstars of yesteryear.
First of all the races on the undercard have decent fields. The 3rd race, a
maiden dirt event, features at least 2 sons of G1 winning mares.The 5th and 11th
are turf MSWs with large fields which will need some help from the weather.
The Beldame came up short but we can all root for Copper State, the house mare,
to get her first graded stakes win in what would be a huge upset.
The Vosburgh also comes up a short field, but features the best dirt sprinter
in the country, Fabulous Strike (by Smart Strike). Two of FS\'s 4 competitors
are major SWs, and FS did lose this race last year to the longest shot on the
board.
The Flower Bowl features 2 G1 SWs, a multiple SW, some first time Lasix Euros
and a mare ridden by Jamie Spencer, who always seems to make things
interesting. Carribean Sunset is entered here. When she ran at the Spa I made
her my best bet of the day and was emboldened when a certain tar heeled Jesuit
sidled up to me during the TG seminar and told me she was his best bet
of the day. I doubled my win bet on her (9/1) and neglected to bet a single
dollar with CS under Forever Together in the exacta. BRILLIANT!
The Joe Hirsch, field of 9 includes 7 graded stakes winners, 5 G1 SWs, and
arguably the best turf runner in NA in Gio Ponti.
The Jockey Club Gold Cup has arguably the two top male 3YOs in training, and
Macho Again, who came close to beating RaChalk in the Woodward.
Not the best Super Saturday in Belmont history, but with all due respect, not as
bad as you make it out to be.
