Opening Day at Belmont
– Low-key Billy Turner leads the Belmont trainer standings after winning three races in a row on opening day, one of those with Just Zip It, part of the Left at the Gate stable.
– In the day’s feature, 5-2 Divine Park won the Westchester Handicap by five lengths, upsetting favored Grasshopper, who finished second. “He’s a very nice horse,” said trainer Kiaran McLaughlin after. He’s so understated. Divine Park has been a favorite of mine since he broke his maiden at Aqueduct over the inner dirt last year. I love his pedigree — his damsire is the late Canadian sire Ascot Knight, also the sire of one of my all-time favorite racehorses, sweet and scrappy Ascot Doll, and he’s by the late Chester House, whose offspring have been good to me at the windows, especially on the grass. (It’s tangential and sentimental, but this game can’t be all about logic.) McLaughlin mentioned the Met Mile as a possible next start for Divine Park, but after that — with Chester House on top, Ascot Knight on the bottom — this is a horse I hope gets a chance on the turf. [5/5 Update: Divine Park earned a career best 111 Beyer in the Westchester.]
– Improvements: Belmont now boasts flat-screen TVs in the backyard, a hospitality center, and renovated bathrooms.
