It’s been a weird few years for the Triple Crown. The Preakness should be run at Pimlico, except this year, it was run at Laurel. The Belmont should be run at Belmont Park, except the last few years, it’s been run at Saratoga at a shorter distance.
Oh well. If you look at the history of the major stakes in North America, it’s not unusual to find that tracks and distances change over time, especially if that time exceeds a hundred years. Heck, the Queen’s/King’s Plate is North America’s oldest continually run horse race, and it has been run at different distances at various venues since 1860, and has not missed a year since. Though since 1956, it has been run at Woodbine in Toronto.
This year’s Belmont—we got the track feed at my local race book, and the book provided free PPs for the race. We were thus as well-informed as we could be. My selections were 3-4-9 in an exactor box, which was upset by that number 7 coming home to place. Still, I hit three of the top four, so my selections were sound, as we say. That’s a point of pride, as a lot of people at the book have said, “You want selections, you talk to Spoons.” That Belmont result only helps cement my reputation as a reliable selector.