Photo Essay: Name Dropping at Belmont Park

On May 14th, I traveled to Belmont Park to watch the Peter Pan Stakes. It was a gorgeous afternoon and I was fortunate to meet up with good friends/writers Teresa Genaro and Ernie Munick of BelmontStakes.Com for the afternoon. Over the course of the day, I also had a chance to watch a race with Andy Serling, talk blogging with Joe DePaolo and have a laugh with Jenny Kellner to name just a couple of interesting folks that call Belmont home (seasonally)! Phew - that's a lot of name dropping!

Alternation narrowly wins the Peter Pan over Adios Charlie

While the feature event loomed as a race to look forward to - - especially with some solid horses such as Alternation, Adios Charlie, Joe Vann and Newsdad in the mix - - it was also a day to soak up some of the atmosphere and appreciate the differences between the Canadian and American racing experience.

On the wagering side of the game, there were many different ways for me to spend my money. For instance, I can play a superfecta at Belmont for a minimum of ten cents! That's a tenth of the price I would normally pay to play Belmont. As well, the pick four can be played at a minimum of fifty cents, compared to my usual $1 minimum, which allowed me to cover a few more horses than I normally would. I also managed to get a few unintentional laughs from the group by talking at length about my thoughts on the exactOR and triactOR of each race, eh?

Alternation wins the Peter Pan


At Woodbine, I'm used to handicapping our unique polytrack surface with its inherent indiosyncracies or the expansive E.P.Taylor turf course and its marathon stretch run. Belmont provides the opposite challenge with its staggering dirt stretch and tricky turf surfaces. I enjoyed my day at Belmont but, from a wagering perspective, let's just say I purchased a very expensive Belmont Park t-shirt as souveneir!

I recommend this Blood-Horse report for a recap of the Peter Pan and for a tour of Belmont Park and the people who make the track experience interesting, I recommend the photo essay below!

(As always, double-left-click the photo to enlarge and use your "BACK" button to return to the photo essay.)

Four hats in one photo!


'I'm telling ya the jock was scrubbing the horse too early...'


Stay thirsty, my friends


Beautiful Belmont


Here come the jocks!


The punters gallery


Maggie Wolfendale owns the Belmont Paddock


Maggie's got something to say to you...


Canadiana!! Ontario-bred fellow Pewter on the track


No love in this elevator. All bidness.


Who says racetracks aren't classy?


Laffit has his eye on you


So much history...


The ten cent superfecta has never been easier to play


After a few losing wagers, I headed over here to raise my spirits


One guess who this man's favourite horse is...


You guessed it!


Hats off to Alex Solis!


Jorge Chavez sees the camera and hides behind a bush


Javier Castellano on the prowl


John Velazquez weighs in


Jorge Chavez and Con The Cat


Ladies looking for (Simon) Husbands, look no further than Belmont Park


Beer Meister had many cheers from the crowd


NotTheToddster advising Castellano to take a short cut...


Joe Vann was not jovial following the Peter Pan


Bold Deed is bold indeed


Adios Charlie hoped to wave goodbye to the field


Ernie Munick making another masterpiece


Alternation surges past Adios Charlie to win the Peter Pan


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