Mike Watchmaker

Say what you want about Barry Irwin, it is clear he is smart, and a realist.

It’s Belmont Stakes morning at Belmont Park, and while it is good news that the intense heat of the last few days has broken, the bad news is it is still very humid with low overcast. There were showers in the area overnight, and showers are supposed to pop up from time to time during the day. The NYRA’s early morning main track and turf conditions are listed as good for both. The main track is currently sealed, which makes sense because as I write this, the first main track race on the card (race 2) is still a little more than 2 ½ hours away.

Looking at the five horse field in today’s Brooklyn Handicap at Belmont makes me a bit sad for a race that was once a major event. The Brooklyn was best known as being part of New York’s Handicap Triple Crown along with the Met Mile and the Suburban Handicap, a trio of races that was swept in the same year only four times – by Whisk Broom 2nd in 1913, Tom Fool in 1953, Kelso in 1961, and Fit To Fight in 1984.

After months of hand wringing over the sad state of the handicap division, and with recent concerns over the status of the male sprint division (defending champion and divisional leader Big Drama is out until late summer, and no one has stepped up in his absence), we were offered real hope Saturday.

With the handicap division in a continued state of disarray, and with this crop of 3-year-olds widely considered to be average at best, it was with great interest that I opened up the latest Breeders’ Cup Classic future book odds from the Wynn Las Vegas Race and Sports Book when it hit my email box. I just couldn’t imagine what I was about to see.