So, California Chrome's Headed to Belmont. Now What? (Hint: NYRA, Big Sandy and Earning It) - Saratoga Horse Racing Blog: f!llies 'n mares By The Alpha Mare Marion Altieri

If you read that title and thought that I have a clue about what will happen–well, sorry.

I have no clue.

I’ve been at Belmont and wept big, sloppy tears when Funny Cide and Smarty Jones lost their bids for the Triple Crown. Like a woman who’s loved and lost too many times, I can’t afford once again to hang my emotions on a Triple Crown hopeful, then spend three hours after a loss, crying on the paddock patio.

It would be nice if Chrome wins the Triple Crown. It’s not necessary, but it would be nice.

Don’t expect to see me crying like a little girl during the next three weeks. I won’t spend one minute of time nodding and agreeing that I’ll lose my mind if he doesn’t win. I won’t have a psychotic break if Ride on Curlin or another great horse crosses that line first. I’m not emotionally invested, because…it’s a horse race. It’s not called, “a sure thing,” and it shouldn’t be. This is about gladiators, duking it out to see who’s The Best that day.

All I know–and all you know–is that Chrome will have a bull’s-eye on the back of his head. Those other horses will be there to beat him.

Last night a friend suggested that, basically, that it would be nice if “they” let him win.

That’s was cute, but it’s naive, to think that trainers and owners would fly their horses into Belmont–spend all that money, energy and emotion–just to let California Chrome win. That sacrificing their own careers and the health and careers of their own steeds would be worth it, in order to have a Triple Crown winner.

Question: How valid would be that victory for Chrome and his team? Answer: It would be no victory, at all…

Triple Crown Trophy.jpg

To hand the Triple Crown to California Chrome simply because “it would be nice” would be akin to the ridiculous contemporary practice of handing trophies to every child, just for showing up.

Winners get trophies. Everyone else is inspired to work hard and win that trophy the next time. Hence, the concept of competition.

If we’re never challenged to do our Very Best, then we’ll never know how good we can be.

And even if the trainers and owners were profoundly stupid; disloyal to themselves and ridiculously magnanimous–and DID conspire to throw the race toward Chrome–there’s another entity to consider.

Big Sandy.

For those of you who are uninitiated, Belmont Park’s dirt track, itself, has a well-earned nickname: Big Sandy.

BELMONT TRACK Racenet dot com dot au.jpg

See that oval, above? On your computer screen, it’s about 2″ long.

In reality, the infield at Belmont is large enough to land a 747.

A mile-and-a-half on that track is the most daunting in the sport of horse racing. Other tracks look like baby tracks. You have to see it in person to grasp the enormity of Big Sandy.

When you see Big Sandy for the first time, you gasp. It’s monstrous.

Then you think about the surface, itself. It’s the surface that gave Belmont that nickname. That oval is one deep surface, let me tell you. I’ve walked across it. I had to lift my legs, a scene reminiscent of a cat being thrown into a fresh snowbank. (Not a pretty sight, for sure. Me, not the cat.)

So imagine an average-weight Thoroughbred, running full-tilt boogie, on that dirt. Every time the horse’s hoof hits the ground, the horse is generating 6,000 pounds of energy per square inch. That’s three tons of weight, smacking into and fighting against that which is probably the deepest dirt on a racetrack in America.

(This is not a Bad Thing, it’s just A Thing. Horses always have run on dirt–Arabian horses do distances across sand dunes, for God’s Sake. They’re used to it. The equine species developed running on dirt. If an Arabian horse can run like mad across a sand dune–10 Thoroughbreds ought to be able to run for 1.5 miles in the deep dirt of Big Sandy.)

The number of horses entered in the race will challenge California Chrome.

The quality and talents of those horses will be a factor.

And then there’s a mile-and-a-half on a track that looms large. Big Sandy stands ready to chew up and spit out Triple Crown dreams. She’s like a big warrior queen, sitting back–staring you in the eye–and saying,

“So…you thought you’d run on a real track before today? Think again.”

Many factors will determine whether the Triple Crown is achieved this year. It’s not a matter of whether Chrome is feeling good that morning: it’s the combined math of all those factors, plus 150,000 hysterical, bellowing fans. A wall of sound, assaulting the ears and sensitive natures of the contenders after they make that final turn for home.

So, I have no Wisdom to offer–other than to advise you not to wish aloud that “they” will let him win. To hand the Triple Crown to California Chrome would be the same as giving trophies to children just because they show up.

NYRA has announced that the field will be full. (See below.) Many people will bring their brightest and best, to see if they have The Horse who can tame Big Sandy.

One of them will. Will it be California Chrome? We won’t know ’til that last nose hits the wire first. But whomever takes home that beautiful Belmont Trophy, one thing we know for sure: that trophy will be earned, one hoof at a time.

Belmont Trophy FollowHorseRacing dot com.jpg

Large field expected to face Triple Crown hopeful

California Chrome in Belmont Stakes

ELMONT, N.Y. – A large, competitive contingent of challengers is expected to faceCalifornia Chrome when he attempts to become thoroughbred racing’s 12^th Triple Crown winner in the Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes on June 7 at Belmont Park.

Commanding Curve, second in the Kentucky Derby, and Ride On Curlin, runner-up in the Preakness, are slated to take on California Chrome again in the Belmont Stakes.

Also exiting the Derby and aiming for a start in the Belmont are Danza (third), Wicked Strong (fourth), Samraat (fifth), and Intense Holiday (12^th).

Social Inclusion, third in the Preakness, is expected to join the Belmont Stakes field, as is Kid Cruz, eighth in the second leg of the Triple Crown.

The provisional Belmont Stakes field also includes Tonalist and Commissioner, the respective top two finishers in Belmont Park’s Grade 2 Peter Pan.

“We want to congratulate the connections of California Chrome, who has distinguished himself as an elite 3-year-old,” said Martin Panza, NYRA’s Senior Vice President of Racing Operations. “Every one of us at The New York Racing Association looks forward to watching him attempt to make history on June 7. With $8 million in purses and 10 stakes on the card, Belmont Stakes Day already was going to be a fantastic day of racing, and California Chrome’s Triple Crown bid will make the event even bigger.”

Contenders for the 2014 Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes as of May 17

Horse	Owner	Trainer
CALIFORNIA CHROME	Steven Coburn & Perry Martin	Art Sherman
COMMANDING CURVE	West Point Thoroughbreds	Dallas Stewart
COMMISSIONER	WinStar Farm	Todd Pletcher
DANZA	Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners	Todd Pletcher
INTENSE HOLIDAY	Starlight Racing	Todd Pletcher
KID CRUZ	Vina Del Mar Tb’s & Black Swan Stb.	Linda Rice
RIDE ON CURLIN	Daniel J. Dougherty	William Gowan
SAMRAAT	My Meadowview Farm	Richard Violette, Jr.
SOCIAL INCLUSION	Rontos Racing Stable	Manuel Azpurua
TONALIST	Robert S. Evans	Christophe Clement
WICKED STRONG	Centennial Farm	James Jerkens

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PHOTO CREDITS:

NYRA logo courtesy of NYRA, the New York Racing Association

Triple Crown Trophy, courtesy of www.horseracingnation.com

Belmont Park Oval courtesy of www.racenet.com.au

Belmont Stakes Trophy courtesy of www.followhorseracing.com

So, California Chrome’s Headed to Belmont. Now What? (Hint: NYRA, Big Sandy and Earning It)

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