It’s hard to believe this will be my 25th Belmont Stakes that I’ve enjoyed to watch and wager on. It seems just like yesterday when I got interested in thoroughbred racing. Today, I’ll look back at those many “Test of the Champions” races and the memories I have the day that this prestigious was contested.
Let’s start in 1986; it was a rather wet day at Belmont Park and the “king” trainer of this very race (Woody Stephens) was overlooked at the windows, but I knew at (8-1) Danzig Connection was a great bet and very profitable one. Right out of the box, I tapped a Belmont Stakes winner and was also Woody Stephen’s final and fifth in a row victory in this race. This is a feat that may never be equaled again. In 1989, there was a showdown between two horses that knock heads in the first two legs of the Triple Crown. Sunday Silence and Easy Goer battled to a one/ two finish in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes with the California based Sunday Silence coming out on top twice. In the ONLY time I went against “ New York ’s” Easy Goer was this race because I wanted in the worst way to see a Triple Crown winner. The result, the horse I was a big fan of turns the tables on his west coast opponent and wins the race and outstanding style. I would NEVER again doubt Easy Goer after that day!
Watching the 1991 Belmont Stakes from the old OTB parlor on Guy Park Avenue , I was hurrying for the wire with Hansel as the Kentucky Derby winner Strike the Gold was bearing down on him in the stretch. Hansel was my Kentucky Derby pick that year and when I got off the “bandwagon” with him in the Preakness, I was looking for retribution with him in the Belmont Stakes. The same could be said the following year with AP Indy in the 1992 edition. After he was scratched the morning of the Kentucky Derby , I was very disappointed he wasn’t running. But in the Belmont Stakes, he did not disappoint me and was the first horse I ever put $20.00 to win on.
Quite possibly in 1998, would have been the closest I would ever see a horse trying to win the Triple Crown. He wasn’t my selection that day, but when Real Quiet came roaring down the stretch with the lead….it looked like history was going to be made. But as we know, history tells us another result and quite possibly the closest I'll see Triple Crown winner. The dreams of Triple Crown attempting horses like; War Emblem, Funny Cide and Smarty Jones would also give us thrills for three years in a row. But again, the outcome remained the same with disappointment.
After that three year streak from 2002 to 2004, I went with the same horse in all three Triple Crown legs in 2005. Although I missed with him in the Kentucky Derby fnishing 3rd(because of a “dead” inside rail) Afleet Alex he did not disappoint in the Preakness Stakes (with an unbelievable win) and Belmont Stakes with an easy victory. But, history was made just three years ago with the first three year old filly in over a hundred years to win the “Test of Champions” - Rags to Riches made history the same day that my Alma mater (Fort Plain) won its first state championship in high school baseball. I can remember where I've seen the last 25 Belmont Stakes races, where I watched the race and who was there with me to see it. From sitting home with my dad, to the OTB on Guy Park Avenue, to the Arietta Hotel in 2002 and the past few years in Fort Plain on “E-street”; the Belmont Stakes has been a big part of my love for thoroughbred racing. Will today, add to my memories of this race?
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