Belmont Stakes Day, 2008
Jun 9th 2008 10:19 pm |
“This was perhaps the ultimate proof that the Triple Crown must be approached with the utmost respect.” — “Trainer Dutrow eats crow after Big Brown busts at Belmont”, Pat Forde, ESPN.COM
Big Brown proved on Saturday that the racing gods are alive and well and as nasty as ever to those with short memories and disrespect for the great history of the game. Heading home from Belmont on Saturday (at a steady 10mph across the Belt Parkway) it occurred to me that Big Brown’s failure to win the Triple Crown was nowhere near the disappointment of Smarty Jones Belmont miss in 2004. The reasons are obvious. While I was pulling for the horse, the arrogance of his connections made the result easy to swallow. I’m not the only one, as many seem to be breathing a sigh of relief, as opposed to expressing disbelief, at the inexplicable performance of Rick Dutrow’s horse.
Here are some photographs from Saturday:
The end…even with a difficult day at the windows and an anti-climatic Belmont Stakes it was a great Saturday. It was hot and crowded but an excellent day of racing. Their is nothing like watching the races with a real crowd.
This Triple Crown season made me appreciate how good it was last year. Let’s hope for a more competitive (and less controversial) crop in 2009. Looking forward to Saratoga…I will be there opening weekend. Back to the history posts next week, I am working on a piece about the Havre de Grace racetrack that I promised a few weeks ago. Thanks for reading…
Filed in Belmont Park,Garcia, Alan,Thors Echo