While a Big Brown-Music Note showdown on the racetrack might be a tantalizing idea, Big Brown won the PR battle hands down today…even though he was 70 miles away.

Grade I races are a crowd magnet in the paddock: connections, friends, family, journalists, staff, executives…all turn out to see the cream of the crop warm up and get saddled for the big event. Sometimes it’s so crowded that you can barely see the horses.

Not so at Belmont on Saturday afternoon.

The Belmont paddock and viewing area fifteen minutes before the Gazelle, generally paddock prime time, both inside and out:

So where is everyone?

Watching Big Brown, of course!

Even John Velazquez came out from the jocks’ room early enough to catch it on the paddock TV, beating the rest of the jockeys and the crowd to the paddock by a good five or so minutes…