Though the first Belmont Stakes was run in 1867, it wasn’t run at Belmont Park until 1905. The race was inaugurated at Jerome Park in what is now the Bronx, where it stayed until 1889, when it moved to Morris Park, also in the Bronx. Run there until Morris Park closed in 1904, the Belmont…
On last year’s Belmont Stakes Day undercard, Paul Pompa Jr.’s Rally Cry ran third in the Easy Goer Stakes. This weekend, the 4-year-old returns to the Belmont undercard—but this time, he steps up to take a shot in the Mohegan Sun Metropolitan Handicap (G1). “He loves Belmont,” said Pompa of the horse, who is two-for-three at…
A look at Benner Island‘s past performances might suggest the filly entered in Saturday’s Acorn Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park is due for a loss. After all, she won last out in the Eight Belles (G2) at Churchill Downs in May, and following each of her two previous wins, she’s slumped a bit before returning…
Brian Nadeau is back this year to offer insight and analysis on this year’s road to the Kentucky Derby. A handicapper at Horseplayer Now and Capital OTB, he analyzed every official Derby points race and will preview the three Triple Crown races, back at Brooklyn Backstretch for the sixth year. Belmont Park: The Grade I, $1.5…
For Maryland Jockey Club stall manager Terry Overmier, it starts the day after the Kentucky Derby. The phone calls. The preparations. The orders for bedding. The stall requests. “Some trainers want to be in certain places, so I try to get them done first,” she said, standing outside stakes barn D on Preakness morning. “Then…
On the biggest weekend in the year in Maryland racing, the man who owns both of the state’s Thoroughbred tracks won one of its most historic races, but as he walked with measured step and mostly impassive face to the winner’s circle at Pimlico, Frank Stronach maintained his usually understated demeanor. “It’s nice,” he said.…
When Anthony Bonomo started racing horses in 2006, he named his Brooklyn Boyz stable after the borough in which he’d grown up, and to which he still felt a close tie. Not uncommonly, he’d name his horses after place in the old neighborhood: Lorimer Street, McCarren Park, Jackson N Humboldt. It’s been a long time…
