More Belmont
A mere 62,274 were at Belmont on Saturday to watch the awesome Afleet Alex win the Belmont Stakes (Blood-Horse). With no Triple Crown on the line, the crowd was half of what it was in 2004, and Saturday’s attendance was the lowest for the Belmont since 1996.
Attendance wasn’t the only thing down this year. TV ratings for the Belmont dropped 63% (Boston Globe). Wagering was up, however. A record was set for the non-Triple Crown running of the Belmont, with more than $47.9 million wagered on the race (Thoroughbred Times). Handle for all 13 races on the card was in excess of $87.5 million, another record for a non-Triple Crown card.
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With his triumph yesterday, Afleet Alex became the eleventh horse to lose the Kentucky Derby but win the Preakness and Belmont. Rider Jeremy Rose expressed some regret over that: “He should be a Triple Crown winner, but I messed up or whatever,” he said after the race. “You can’t blame Tim, and you can’t blame Afleet Alex. So if you have to blame someone, blame me. I don’t want to hear any more criticism about my horse. Knock me, but don’t knock him. He’s one of the best we’ll see in a long time” (New York Times). I think Rose, who has demonstrated much talent and patience this spring, is being hard on himself. The Derby was a tough race with a brutal pace, and Alex only lost by a length. So he didn’t win the Triple Crown — he’s still unquestionably the best three-year-old in training right now.
Alex zipped the last quarter of the Belmont in 24.4 seconds, the fastest time since Arts and Letters in 1969, and his speedy surge caught some off guard. “I thought my horse could win the race,” said Rafael Bejarano, who was on Nolan’s Cat and only three lengths behind Alex coming out of the final turn. “I was very happy going into the turn,” said jockey Edgar Prado, who was riding Indy Storm, “but when I saw Afleet Alex going by me like I was tied to a pole, I said, ‘Oh, (shoot), I’m in trouble.’ He went by me so fast” (Courier Journal).
Trainer Tim Ritchey said Afleet Alex came out of yesterday’s race well and will be pointed to the Haskell on August 7 or the Travers on August 27 (Daily Racing Form), and affirmed that the colt would run as a four-year-old. But Ritchey played down an Afleet Alex-Ghostzapper meeting in the Breeders’ Cup Classic this October: “Ghostzapper is a tremendous horse. Our horse is a 3-year-old. We’re going to run him with 3-year-olds where he belongs right now. He will be running as a 4-year-old, so if Ghostzapper is still out there, I suppose we’ll meet up somewhere, but we’ll see what happens then. That’s a long way ahead” (Blood-Horse). Post Belmont, a four-year-old campaign might be a little problematic. Blood-Horse estimates that Afleet Alex’s stud value is $30 million right now.
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Jockey Mike Smith explained Giacomo’s seventh place finish by saying that the Derby winner was agitated from the NYRA pre-race detention barn and flipped his palate before the Belmont (New York Daily News). The gray colt is already on his way back to California and will rest for a while before returning to the track, according to trainer John Shirreffs.
A bad break eliminated Reverberate from contention. ”We lost all chance when he stumbled at the start,” said trainer Sal Russo (Boston Globe). The race comment notes that Reverberate “broke in air,” and rider Jose Santos thought the colt was “anxious.” It was a shame to see Reverberate finish tenth yesterday. I was sure Afleet Alex was unbeatable, and almost as sure Reverberate would run second — although that didn’t stop me from tossing Andromeda’s Hero onto my ticket. All the talk early this spring about how strong he galloped out after races made me think Andromeda’s Hero might like the Belmont distance, which he did, finishing second. With that, Andromeda’s Hero became the only one of trainer Nick Zito’s record eleven starters in this year’s Triple Crown races to hit the board in those races.
