Shuld the other horses even bother going to Belmont?

[Lynn_Bodoni]

@Lynn Bodoni

I like horses and all, but why is this in the Pit? Surely not because deep down inside, I’m a horse-crazy 12 year old girl?

Lynn

I’m moving this to the Cafe Society, where it really belongs. I asked about the placement here some time ago, and got no reply.

Lynn

[N9IWP]

As others pointed out, the Belmont has been tough for other triple crown hopefuls.

TV coverage: 1.5 hours. Actual race: about 1.5 minutes. Even the Superbowl isn’t padded that much. I can undestand bios on the horses/trainers/owners/jockeys and the winner’s ceremony, but an hour and a half?

Brian

[wireless]

So what is it that makes the Belmont track or race so tough?
Turns? Length? ???

[plnnr]

@Nithotep

It’s worth remembering that Smary’s time was two seconds off the track record. His Derby time was not the best either. (Of course otoh, both tracks were pretty heavy on the race day too.) He laughed all over this field but he’s not necessarily unbeatable. What impresses me about him is his attitude throughout it all, not his speed so much.

That said, on the often difficult Belmont track against this field in this year … I’m too superstitious to say what I think the outcome will be.

That’s what I noticed, too…his attitude. “Hey, I think I’ll go out for a run today. A really, really fast run. Wanna watch?” He looks like he’s having a ball.

[RealityChuck]

@wireless

So what is it that makes the Belmont track or race so tough?
Turns? Length? ???

Distance. A mile and a half is one of the longest thoroughbred races run in the US (not counting steeplechases).

The track is different, too: Belmont is also a mile and a half oval, where most are a mile and a quarter. This makes for longer and gentler turns, but that’s not really the issue as much as the length of the race is.

[lachesis]

@Biggirl

I’m not into horse racing much at all but the Preakness was on the tube and I watched. I have a few questions for those in the know:

Rock Hard Ten really, really didn’t want to go into that little starter stall. And then somebody came and boxed his ears. At least that’s what it looked like to me (You get in that stall this instant young horse!). Does anybody know how they got the horse in the stall? Does the horse not wanting to get into the stall indicate an unwillingness to race?

i know MaddyStrut gave a fair answer to this, but as an owner of an ex-racehorse myself, may i elaborate a bit.

twisting a horse’s ear is basically putting a rather harsh hold on him. you’re squeezing and twisting the ear cartilage, which (as you can image) can be rather painful. it REALLY gets the animal’s attention, on the order of the pain overrides the balkiness, orneryness or (non-panic-level) fear that the animal may be exhibiting at the time. (plus it’s a hell of a lot more PC that smacking the animal in public, which would incidentally be counterproductive anyway, since the horse would start to associate the gate with getting beaten.)

starting gates are very claustrophobic spaces. the side bars can actually touch the horses’ flanks when they’re in. some horses are more susceptible to fear or panic in those close quarters than others. (my own i’m sure is a genuine claustrophobe now, and i suspect the gates may be responsible. we actually bought an extra-wide trailer for transporting our guys, because of him. Demon Horse From Hell (as hubby liked to call him) has no problems loading himself onto the trailer now, but when we first got him we had many hysterical fights from him before he learned to accept that it was going to be ok, and he’d get to do fun things after getting on the trailer and going places.)

if you ever read any of Monty Roberts’ books, he mentions retraining race horses so they load quietly into the starting gates. for one, he even created a sort of break-away blanket to cover his flanks, just so the horse wouldn’t feel the inside bars (which was what upset him so much). good training generally keeps it from being a rampant problem, but it does exist. (not surprising, really, considering how tightly wound up racehorses can be.)

so, no, just because the horse doesn’t enjoy getting squeezed into a skinny box doesn’t necessarily mean that he isn’t willing to try and run like hell and beat all the others on the track.
by the way, i hate horseracing. someday i’ll do a Pit rant about making young animals do the equivalent of having a 7-year-old kid play football against the Green Bay Packers. :mad:
… and having said THAT, a final note: Smarty Jones has had his ears UP at the finish for both races, IIRC. a horse that is giving you everything he’s got generally has his ears laid flat back on his head. i think i’m pretty impressed.