Belmont's big Saturday card puts up big numbers

ELMONT, N.Y. - Though Saturday’s inaugural “Stars and Stripes Racing Festival” at Belmont Park was a success, New York Racing Association officials were not pounding their chests Sunday morning.

“Yesterday was a good starting point,” said Martin Panza, NYRA’s senior vice-president of racing operations. "We can grow that day."

On a magnificent summer Saturday at Belmont Park - following Friday’s miserable Fourth of July - Belmont attracted a crowd of 11,184. Ontrack handle was $2,825,797. All-sources handle was $18,829,265. There were five stakes on the 10-race program, led by the $1.25 million Belmont Derby and $1 million Belmont Oaks, races that had previously been run in the fall as the Jamaica and Garden City, respectively, with mid-range six-figure purses. NYRA also ran the Suburban, Belmont Sprint Championship (formerly the James Marvin at Saratoga) and the Dwyer. Total purse money offered was $3,779,000. After scratches there were 89 betting interests on the card. A food-truck festival, voucher, and T-shirt giveaways also were part of the day.

On the comparable Saturday last year (July 6), there were 5,047 here for an 11-race card - including the Suburban and Dwyer - and ontrack handle was $1,802,401and total handle was $13,722,648. Total purse money offered was $1,128,000 and there were 88 betting interests.

“That was sort of a pleasant day of racing," Panza said of Saturday’s card. "There was some quality. An international type of day of racing works on July 5 because it won’t interfere with Saratoga and that’s a good thing. To some extent, some of these horses will go to Saratoga and run, but these are sort of different races than what we offer at Saratoga, so that’s very important. I don’t want to have an impact on Saratoga.”

Part of the idea of creating high-purse races for 3-year-old turf horses was to attract interest from overeas. Eight European-based runners competed, four in each of the 3-year-old turf races. However, it was the American-based horses that prevailed, with Belmont Park-based Mr Speaker outfinishing European shipper Adelaide by a neck in the Belmont Derby. Gailo Chop (4th), Toast of New York (6th) and Pornichet (9th) were the other European-based runners who competed in the derby.

New York-based runners Minorette, Sea Queen, and Summer Solo ran one-two-three in the Belmont Oaks. European runners Xcellence, Wonderfully, Goldy Espony ,and Flying Jib finished fourth, fifth, sixth, and eighth.

“I think we were all a little bit surprised, but it’s good that the American horses ran well,” Panza said. “Even though the Europeans probably didn’t have the greatest day, I had a lot of positive feedback from them. Dermot Weld [said], ‘I’m coming back with more horses and this is great.’ That’s what we want to have happen.”

Panza has brought a “big-day” concept of racing to New York. He grew Belmont Stakes Day into a Breeders’ Cup-type card with 10 stakes races, and that program - buoyed by the Triple Crown bid of California Chrome - worked for both horsemen and fans, save for some significant customer-service malfunctions.

Panza has enhanced Whitney Day on Aug. 2 at Saratoga to include five stakes. Those days join already established big-event programs like Travers Day on Aug. 23 at Saratoga and Jockey Club Gold Cup Day Sept. 27 at Belmont.

Panza said that Saturday “gave me even more confidence that the big days are the way to go, and stacking races."

"That being said, it’s easier said than done," Panza said. "It’s hard to find more stakes to put there and not affect other stakes and not affect other people’s stakes schedule. If it was easy other people would just copy it and do it.”

Panza felt there were things that could have been done better Saturday, most notably increasing field size in some of the earlier races.

"We have to make sure when we have these big days that we have field size,” Panza said. “We in the racing department need to work through that, and we will.”

While Panza tries to plot out more big days for New York racing, trainers Shug McGaughey and Chad Brown will try to plot out next moves for their horses. McGaughey said Mr Speaker could be a candidate for the Grade 1 Secretariat at Arlington on Aug. 16, or he could stay home and point for one of the turf races for 3-year-olds at Saratoga - the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame on Aug. 8 or the Saranac on Sept. 1. His year-end objective is the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 1.

The Oaks was designated a Win and You’re In race for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, so that is the year-end goal for Minorette. Whether she takes on older fillies and mares before that in a race like the Beverly D. at Arlington on Aug. 16 or runs with 3-year-olds in races like the Lake Placid at Saratoga (on Aug. 16) and the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland (Oct. 11) is up in the air, according to Brown.

“Maybe wait to take on the olders until firm ground at a mile and a quarter at the Breeders’ Cup if she’s still running good numbers,” he said “She’s only improving.”