NYRA Forges On To The Belmont

Any publicity is good publicity, it is said, and if that's indeed the case, then NYRA, for all it's been in the news lately, might have to set up giant screens in the parking lot to accommodate an overflow crowd there on June 5.

More likely however is that, on a nice day for the Belmont Stakes, they'll have something in the neighborhood of 50,000 or so to see, with a little luck, a field of 10-12 horses and a lively betting race.....or, at least, one with several live contenders with which to try and beat probable favorite Ice Box.

NYRA's communications department is off and running with a press release on Tuesday about the Belmont Stakes festival to be held in nearby Floral Park and Garden City the day before. The Belmont Stakes website is up and active, with four - count 'em - bloggers, including two non-staff members who are being compensated with free admission to the race and coupons for 20% off all non-alcoholic beverages. There are updates on Twitter.....do people still use that? And it looks like NYRA has managed to hire a PR firm for the occasion. I guess if NYC OTB could do it, then they can; hope they get better results for their money.

It must be an eerie atmosphere there as NYRA pulls out the stops to market the race amidst reports of its imminent closure. Governor Paterson gave a reflexive "we have a plan" response to a reporter's question on Tuesday; and while a couple of reporters turned that into a story, Matt Hegarty reported in the Form that, in fact, the talks have yet to produce any specific plan to loan NYRA the money. [DRF] Expressing what likely is wariness generated by the unsuccessful bluff by NYC OTB, Senate Democratic spokesperson Austin Shafran told the Saratogian: “Before any taxpayer money is used, we would like to know how much money NYRA actually has." By the time they get around to doing so, the answer might very well be 'none.'

Here are the past performances for the 2006 Belmont (pdf file), which was the last time that neither the Derby nor Preakness winner was present. That race drew over 61,000. You had the Derby runner-up Bluegrass Cat, as well as the third and fourth place finishers (Steppenwolfer and Jazil). But those runners finished far behind Barbaro and generated so little enthusiasm that the bettors somehow decided to make the 17th place finisher Bob and John the lukewarm 9-2 favorite. Euro shipper Oh So Awesome, Peter Pan winner Sunriver, and West Point's sacrificial lamb High Finance were some other horses of interest.

This year (and here are the pp's for the prospective contenders), Ice Box and First Dude, coming off their bang-up runner-up efforts in the first two legs, by themselves probably make this a more accomplished field. Throw in the Peter Pan Dwyer winner Fly Down (and the tough luck runner up Drosselmeyer), Baffert's Lone Star Derby winning Game On Dude (that's right, two dudes in the same race), the intriguing stretch-runner Setsuko, and the Derby 4th place finisher Make Music For Me, and you have the makings of a decently competitive race with a lot of different ways to go betting-wise. Not to say that they will equal the attendance of 2006. Things are different now with the economy still on shaky ground, and the parking and admission prices far higher. Last year's 52,861 who came to see Mine That Bird but no Rachel Alexandra is probably a better guide.