Belmont Notes - July 11

A nice crowd of almost 6,000 at Belmont for the twilight card on Friday. For NYRA to draw a crowd like that on a weekday is probably, at least in my mind, as significant an achievement as the 13,000+ that allegedly showed up for Rachel Alexandra (betcha it seemed almost as crowded in the backyard area). No stars on Friday; the only marketing hook in this case was for people to come and party in a beautiful park on, in this case, a gorgeous summer evening. That's not that complicated, is it?

Linda Rice took the feature with Karakorum Elektra. Second win against the boys in two tries off a layoff for the daughter of Freud; nice training job there. Ms. Rice is another one of those trainers that you want to keep an eye on going into Saratoga....but she's already enjoyed a fine Belmont meeting (10 for 43, 23%), and is red hot now, on a streak 3-1-1 with her last five.

In today's 8th, the state-bred Lottsa Talc stakes, Ms. Rice has three of the seven entrants, and figures to have the favorite with either Meriwether Jessica (7-2) or, most likely, Canadian Ballet (5-2). The latter comes off a nose loss to the solid Smart and Fancy in a stakes at Pimlico in her first start off a seven month layoff; and she'd won a Meadowlands stakes in her prior effort last fall. However, those races were at five furlongs, so today's race, at seven, is a significantly different scenario. The daughter of City Zip has faded in her two tries beyond six, and I think that makes her vulnerable as the favorite despite her sizable Beyer edge over the rest of the field. Meriwether Jessica has been solid at six furlongs and winless in seven tries beyond that distance. But she's been close, and her running style suggests she may be OK at seven furlongs, so I'd actually prefer this one of the two. Mohegan Sun (9-2) completes the trio and can surely take this off her back form. She seems a bit unenthusiastic since running third against the boys last year, but she does comes back on short rest and gets Ramon.

Let's take a price stab instead with Absolute Heaven (10-1) for Graham Motion, yet another barn I like to follow upstate. Daughter of Not For Love is two-for-two at the distance, with the two wins coming over the Woodbine Poly. She cuts back to that distance here after a fine second in the Sabellina to the tough Nehnatic Kat, and picks up Johnny V. This mare has been out of the money just once in nine starts since being claimed by this barn (from Linda Rice) for 45K two years ago. $115,000 in earnings since then, and seems poised for more with a fine start to her five-year old campaign; money prospects at square price here.

- Free music at the South Street Seaport last night - NYC's emerging The Pains of Being Pure at Heart; their fine debut album is available on Slumberland Records.



Also, an enthusiastic shout-out for Ribbons, a unique and intense guitar/drums duo from Brooklyn which opened the show.