View of Belmont Park, Section 2v, June 6, 2009

We had a perfect day of racing at Belmont this past Saturday. Summer Bird capped off an intriguing Triple Crown season that included a 50/1 shot in the Derby, a filly in the Preakness, and a couple of previously unknown trainers sharing the spotlight. Add to that, Hall of Famer Kent Desormeaux finally winning the race that brought him more agony then any other.

Racing doesn’t need a Triple Crown, it needs more stories like those of Tim Ice, Chip Wooley, and Calvin Borel. Let’s hope the summer racing season has as much drama as we had over the past five weeks.

I couldn’t have asked for a better day at the races for Belmont Stakes Day. We had excellent seats and perfect weather; I cashed a few tickets; ate some good food (thank you Carolina BBQ); and had one of the cleanest trips out of New York I have ever had (Geno at Equispace would have been proud).

I am putting my summer itinerary together now — looks like trips to Saratoga and Colonial are in the cards for this year. And, of course, many weekends at Delaware Park.

Check out these Belmont Stakes reports and pictures from Green But Game, Equispace, The Bug Boys, Left at the Gate, Brooklyn Backstrectch, and Throughbred Zone. I don’t know about you, but I really love reading the blogs after the big days — especially when so many bloggers were in the house on Saturday. I also thoroughly enjoyed the Belmont Stakes coverage and tweets by Jessica at Raceday360 this year.

And don’t miss this interesting post by Dana at Green But Game featuring Super8 footage of Belmont Stakes past.

Here are a few of my snapshots from the day:

Edgar Prado aboard Benny the Bull

The always game Fabulous Strike before the True North

Post parade for the Manhattan and the Belmont crowd

Mine that Bird checks out the crowd before the big race

Ready to load for the 2009 Belmont Stakes

Back to the history next week!

THANKS FOR READING AND GOOD LUCK