The 2020 Belmont Stakes and This Year's Triple Crown

   My parents loved watching the Triple Crown races on television - those were pretty much the only televised races on TV at the time.  Dad grew up on a farm with horses and mules; Mom grew up on Chincoteague Island, and was always pony and horse crazy.  Chincoteague Island isn't that far from Berlin, Maryland, where Samuel D. Riddle had his winter stable and thoroughbred farm.  Man o'War lived there in the winter, and Mom visited him several times, signing the Man o'War Guest Book with each visit.  She told me how tall and majestic the stallion was, and how much she loved to listen to Will Harbut, his groom, speak about him and his racing career.

   Being a pony and horse crazy person myself, I've always watched and enjoyed thoroughbred racing.  As I grew up and read more, and worked on a horse farm and helped breed, train, and show horses, I also learned how punishing racing is to the horse itself.  I know well all the danger incurred in racing.  I know that horses don't truly reach maturity until the age of 8 years, and that racing them is terrible. I know that, when racing was actually first designated a "Sport" in England, the horses did not run in their first race until they were at least 4 or 5 years old.  -  And yet, now the normal thing in horse racing is to break a horse to saddle around the age of 18 months, and start training it to race, building muscle and stamina before the age of 2 years, when it starts a racing career.  Younger horses weigh less and can run faster, breaking speed records.  But there is also the awful price of catastrophic breakdowns - heart attacks, and legs to totally shattered that euthanasia is the only recourse.

   I love horse racing - watching and cheering on my favorite.

   I hate horse racing - knowing the stress, injuries, and deaths it causes.

   I am one person full of opposing thoughts.

*******

   Anyway, back to this year's Triple Crown.  I cannot get excited about any of the races this year.  The Kentucky Derby has been postponed until September; the Preakness is scheduled for two weeks after the Derby, which is usual, but it is still unknown where the race will be held this year.  Will it happen at Pimlico, the home of the Preakness, or will it be moved to Laurel?

   The Belmont, normally the third part of the Triple Crown, will be run tomorrow.  Instead of being run at the distance of 1 1/2 miles, it has been cut back to 1 1/8 miles - shorter than any of the other Triple Crown races.

   The Triple Crown itself was conceived as a series of three races measuring the greatness and stamina of three-year-old horses.  To be able to win all three races - so early in their three-year-old career - was, and is -  considered a hallmark of true racing greatness.  The first Saturday in May is an early date for a 3-year-old to carry 126 pounds (the weight carried by all males in the 3 races) the distance of 1 1/4 miles at racing speed.  Two weeks later, the horses again battle in the Preakness at a distance of 1 3/16 miles.  Then 3 weeks after the Preakness, the leg-wearying 1 1/2 Belmont Stakes is run.  The first race is run in Kentucky, the second in Maryland, and the third in New York.  The horse must remain fit and travel great distances to the races - And only the winner of the first race has the ability to become a Triple Crown champion. - Three huge races in a period of 5 weeks.  -  But not this year.

Morning line betting favorite for the Belmont Stakes, Tiz the Law

  Tomorrow, there will be a field of 10 racing in the Belmont Stakes; the distance is 1 1/8 miles (NOT 1 1/2 miles); and the total purse is $1 million.  Two of the colts were sired by Uncle Mo; two of the colts were sired by Quality Road.  All entries are bays.  Tap It To Win is a ridgling bred in Florida; Tiz the Law was bred in New York; Sole Volante is a gelding. Other than the first two mentioned, all were bred in Kentucky.

   Following are the Post Positions for the Belmont Stakes -  name of the entry and morning line odds, name of sire, and name of dam:

1.   Tap It To Win   6 to 1    by Tapit - Onepointhreekarats

2.   Sole Volante      9 to 2    by Karakontie (JPN) - Light Blow

3.   Max Player       15 to 1   by Honor Code - Fools in Love

4.   Modernist         15 to 1   by Uncle Mo - Symbolic Gesture

5.   Farmington Road    15 to 1   by Quality Road - Silver La Belle

6.   Fore Left           30 to 1   by Twirling Candy - Simply Sunny

7.   Jungle Runner    50 to 1   by Candy Ride (ARG) - Minx

8.   Tiz the Law       6 to 5    by Constitution - Tizfiz

9.   Dr. Post              5 to 1    by Quality Road - Mary Delaney

10. Pneumatic         8 to 1     by Uncle Mo - Tear Drop

As I said before, I just can't get excited about this year's Triple Crown races....  and that's sad for the horse, their owners, and all the people who work with (and for) these magnificent creatures.