ELMONT, N.Y. – Through the steady rain falling in the dark at Belmont Park, you can hear them – the ghosts of Triple Crowns past, echoing through the mammoth grandstand and around the sweeping final turn.
"… in a position that seems impossible to catch. He's into the stretch."
“In the stretch, here he comes, and he’s opening up again!”
"We'll test these two to the wire!"
NEW YORK – Bring together a group of executives, administrators, and overseers of racing and breeding, and the topic of medication is bound to be front and center. So it was Friday at the inaugural Pan American Conference held in New York City on Thursday and Friday.
Much of the second half of the day’s agenda was devoted to medication, both existing enforcement worldwide as well as visions for a race-day medication-free world, notably in the U.S.
True North/Met Mile $2 daily double will pays:
Pool: $183,577
No. 8 Rock Fallin the True North with/
1) Private Zone, $52
2) Bay of Plenty, $278.50
3) Noble Moon, $520
4) Tonalist, $18.40
5) Tamarkuz, $66.50
6) Wicked Strong, $58
7) Bayern, $33.40
8) Pants On Fire, $228.50
9) Honor Code, $41.60
10) Kobe's Back, $161.50
NEW YORK – Former NBA Commissioner David Stern had some advice for racing: Clean up your act if you want to improve the prospects for racing, and you need to do that before you can market it. Well, he did not say those exact words Friday, but those in attendance at the inaugural Pan American Conference, held in New York City on Thursday and Friday, could well take away that message.
American Pharoah will be sponsored by Monster Energy Drinks for his attempt to win the Triple Crown in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in New York, the parties to the deal announced on Friday.
Under the deal, Monster’s logo will be featured on apparel worn by American Pharoah and his connections, including owner Ahmed Zayat and trainer Bob Baffert. The horse has been made the 3-5 morning-line favorite to win the Belmont off his earlier wins in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes.
Del Mar has tabled a plan to change the format of the pick six for the upcoming summer meeting. The plan would have eliminated a consolation payoff and dedicated that portion of the pool for distribution to a single ticketholder.
On Thursday, track President Joe Harper said Del Mar will seek additional feedback from bettors before reconsidering the new format for the autumn meeting.
California Chrome, the 2014 Horse of the Year, had his first workout at Ascot Racecourse in England on Thursday, the venue for his next start in the $806,925 Prince of Wales’s Stakes on June 17.
Jockey Frankie Dettori was aboard California Chrome in a team workout that included the 2014 stakes winner Aktabantay. Alan Sherman, assistant trainer to his father, Art Sherman, was in attendance and timed the final six furlongs of California Chrome’s workout in 1:14, according to Art Sherman.
Victor Espinoza, the self-proclaimed “luckiest Mexican on Earth,” has been shopping on the sly lately, avoiding some of his usual San Gabriel Valley haunts.
“I like talking to the fans, especially the kids,” he said between races at Santa Anita the other day. “But now they all want to talk about the Derby, and the Belmont, and the Triple Crown. I hate to tell them I might be late to be somewhere else, or that I have something else to do. And sometimes I really get into the conversation. So, I found a couple different places to shop.”
BELMONT PARK
TRACK: FAST
WEATHER: CLEAR
TEMPERATURE: 60
ELMONT, N.Y. – There are no more uneventful mornings on the Belmont Stakes workout watch now that AMERICAN PHAROAH has arrived, and he put on another great show during a 1 1/2-mile gallop here Thursday, showing great energy dragging his rider around at a two-minute clip for the opening mile before coming to hand down the stretch.
Wagering on U.S. races in May climbed 4.8 percent despite a 4 percent drop in the number of races, according to figures released by Equibase on Thursday.
The May results were the second straight month in which handle jumped even as the number of races at U.S. racetracks declined. However, there were 10 weekend dates in May of this year, compared with nine weekend dates in May 2014. Handle on weekend dates is typically substantially higher than weekday wagering.
