There will be no souls at their feet when beautiful animals come running towards the finish line, and there will be no giant roar to rise and explode out of Belmont Park and into the Hempstead Turnpike.
But even though there will be no fans in the stands, or anywhere on Big Sandy, they will crown the winner of the first Belmont bet which is the first leg of the Triple Crown, the first Belmont bet, one mile away and eleven-eight instead of half a mile.
If you shout hoarsely for a New York sporting event right away since the pandemic has turned the world upside down, you will have a horse.
Pete Alonso will not swing bats until next month … three restrictions on the MLB season, and Jacob deGrom and Gerrit Cole will not torture the beaters. LeBron will not bring his talent to the Orlando bubble until the end of next month. Artemi Panarin will not skate in the hub city of the NHL until next month.
The premier professional sports league versus coronavirus.
No March Madness.
Only sadness.
Socially keep away what feels like eternity from our professional sports.
Only television replays and happy memories and hope for some to return to normalcy during the tumultuous times of the nation’s parade is too late for equality for all.
But at least and finally an oasis in the desert of despair and sadness.
And the excited New York sports crowd wants to drink it.
And at 5:42 pm on Saturday, 10 horses will be at the starting gate for the unique and historic Belmont Bet, because the Kentucky Derby and Preakness are before us when traditionally they are in the rearview mirror now.
No one would call Belmont Stakes The Test of the Champion. No horse will remind anyone of the Secretariat. But one horse, and one jockey in the saddle above it, will be paraded to the Winner’s Circle, where they will wrap the winner with white carnations, and the proud coach will rejoice.
Virtual viewing is better than not watching at all.
“I am very happy that they are back in New York. I hope that can happen with fans, but this is a step in the right direction, and Belmont is a great tradition,” coach Todd Pletcher told The Post. “Triple Crown’s first leg this year, and hopefully that will be the start of things that reopen in a good summer for New York racing.”
Pletcher has won three Belmont Stakes – Rags to Riches in 2007, Palace Malice in 2013, and Tapwrit in 2017 – and will lose the votes of 90,000 New York racing fans who always fill the track with enthusiasm and fever.
“It will be very different,” Pletcher said, “but at the same time, I think it will get a lot of good television coverage, and hopefully an interesting race – one good thing about racing being one of the few sporting events that occur in at this time, hopefully get some viewers back and create some new viewers, and hopefully these are people who will stay hooked on racing and keep watching after things open in other sports. “
Tiz the Law is a favorite, but Pletcher is a seven-time Eclipse winner, and Belmont is his home base. So, you count the entries – Dr. Post and Farmington Road – at your own risk.
Dr. Post is not named for the New York Post, but for Dr. Martin Post, a cardiologist at New York-Presbyterian / Weill Cornell Medical Center and fellow from the American College of Cardiology and former chief of cardiology for the Eighth United States Army in Korea.
No wonder the horse has an extraordinary heart. Dr. Four-legged Post may be inexperienced, but he doesn’t seem to mind appearing like a champion in front of no fans on April 25 at the uncontrolled Bets sixteen and on Gulfstream, and after chuckling in the face of adversity after being dragged and bumped, you might go thinking he could win the race with Mushnick in the saddle, not Irad Ortiz Jr.
Better than that to retain double Eclipse champion Ortiz, the belmont 2016 Belmont winner who surprised the Creator and the top 2020 winners (147) and producers (more than $ 7.2 million).
Dr. Four-legged Post was bought as a one-year-old child by St. Elias Stable from Brooklyn-born Vincent Viola, owner of the NHL Florida Panthers and chief executive of market maker firm Virtu Financial Inc.
“I like the way they both practiced,” said Pletcher. “They both drove very well above the main track last week. This is a tough order, and highly respects Tiz the Law, but … our horses come in the race as best we can. ”
On this big New York day, it’s Swellmont.
