After spending a long weekend in the Big Apple, we're back in the B-lo and taking a breath after an exciting Triple Crown series that culminated in Palace Malice's big win in Saturday's Belmont Stakes. The day ended up being picture perfect after the onslaught of rain that the metropolitan New York area experienced on Friday and in the early Saturday morning hours.
It was an exciting race that came down to two Hall of Fame jockeys battling it out at the top of the stretch with Mike Smith avenging his Belmont loss on Paynter last year with the victory aboard the son of Curlin. As a big fan of Curlin, I am punching myself in the face for not using him. Worse yet, in my 4/26 post on the Sports, Ink blog in my annual Degrees of Separation post I listed the following two horses in the "Afleet Alex Division" and I quote:
The Afleet Alex Divison: Horses that won't win the Derby, but will have to be respected and could hit the board. Those qualifying here have the potential to become a Classic winner down the road in either the Preakness or the Belmont Stakes.
Palace Malice: Late charger who seems to be a Belmont horse to me. I like him very much, and will keep an eye on his draw, his daddy Curlin won the Preakness and was nosed out of the Belmont.
Oxbow: Still waiting for this one to show up. Thinking it may be in the Belmont where he may savor the Test of a Champion.
Yeesh....did I cash on either? Take a wild guess. Maybe I should read myself more often! Anyways the weekend was a blast and the Space Gal and I took in the Big Apple with gusto. She even managed to make the Fashion at the Races blog (red dress, white fascinator).
My post race recap of the Belmont for The News can be found here. I also live blogged during the stakes portion of the races at the Sports, Ink blog from Big Sandy. My paper picks of Revolutionary-Oxbow-Freedom Child didn't quite pan out, although I felt very positive about Oxbow running a big one and he sure did respond and paid fairly handsomely for the place and show spots.
Our next assignment will be up north early next month where we'll be covering the Queen's Plate, one of my favorite races of the year up at Woodbine in Toronto. We'll have a post up later this week discussing likely contenders and some early thoughts after this weekend's Plate Trial win by Dynamic Sky.
Here are some pictures from Belmont Stakes Day with some color commentary mixed in..
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| A view of the box seats from the trackside winner's circle (if you look close enough on left hand side first box - you'll see the white-shirted former NYRA chairman Charlie Hayward) |
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| Palace Malice reaches the winner's circle |
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| Space Invasion: Belmont Park |
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| Space Gal stylin' on paddock rail |
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| Wabbajack - Ninety North Stables star before the Easy Goer |
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| Repole Stables' Micromanage |
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| Easy Goer winner Power Broker with Rosie Napravnik up |
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| Johnny V aboard Stephanie's Kitten winner of the Just A Game |
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| DWL saddling Optimizer before the Manhattan |
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| Point of Entry in the paddock before the Manhattan |
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| Incognito before the Belmont |
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| Rosie aboard Unlimited Budget |
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| Orb heads to the track with Joel Rosario in the irons |
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| Horses milling around before entering the gate (Space Gal view) |
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| Crowd anticipating the start |
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| Belmont Tote Board |
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| Palace Malice about 31 lengths from the wire (see blue pole marking Secretariat's margin of victory) |
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| Give that Palace Malice a hand! |
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| My view from the winner's circle |
That's a wrap for this year's Triple Crown. My weekly Friday column can be found here so be sure to bookmark to keep tabs on me for the next few months.
Sorry to those Jim Palmer fans out there that thought the new reality show was about underwear models...wrong Jockeys! It's all about the seven Left Coast jockeys who will be premiering in Animal Planet's new reality show tonight (channel 282 on DirecTV) at 9pm where the first two episodes will be played. Robert from