Green and White

Minnie Punt ($58.50) was the upset winner of the New York Stallion Stakes for colts and geldings on Sunday with a clever ride by Johnny V, who saved some ground on the turn and managed to find a way through to victory. Little question in my mind that it was that shorter route that was the difference between he and favored Uncle T Seven, who circled five wide and settled for second. Interestingly, Velazquez had never before ridden for trainer Mike Miceli....at least going back the five years that Formulator does.

These Stallion Stakes are limited to horses sired by actual New York stallions, as opposed to horses like Funny Cide (Distored Humor) whose dams were returned to New York to foal. Minnie Punt is by Gold Fever, who, at one time, stood at Questroyal up near Albany. However, now he's at Dove Hill Farm in Minnesota, for $2850; and he thought it was cold upstate? He was the Minnesota's leading sire in 2008. I understand that the Coleman campaign attempted to get his vote counted, but the Franken team successfully argued that Gold Fever was ineligible to vote by virtue of his being a horse.

- NYRA seems to be pulling out all the stops to try and promote the Belmont. The improved flow of emailed information to the media continues (not that I'm media, but I am on the list), and there's a satellite newsfeed available too. There's a media event scheduled for the Empire State Building this morning with jockey Rajiv Maragh (Brave Victory) and trainer Time Ice (Summer Bird). And, the Empire State Building will shine its tower lights green and white in the race's honor on Thursday night. That's pretty cool I'd say, though many people will probably think it's for the Bloomberg campaign.