The only thought at the time was whether they would even be able to hold the 155th Belmont Stakes that weekend. The sky still looked smoggy-weird, from the Canadian wildfires, and racing was canceled that Thursday because of it. We went to Yankee Stadium that evening, and the sky looked normal again, so, crisis averted.
Arcangelo won the Belmont that Saturday, to which there was much rejoicing, I filed my story, got in the car and drove home. Now that I think of it, I should’ve clipped a piece of ivy off the red-brick clubhouse wall before I left. I’m not a sentimental person, but they’re tearing that place down and erecting a swanky new oceanliner of a building that is a substantial departure from the previous one that I know.
I’ve covered the Belmont Stakes close to 20 times down there, and you get attached to a building like that, even if its utility has expired. Lacking a keepsake, other than programs and press badges, all that’s left are memories, the next of which will be created at Saratoga Race Course, serving as Belmont Park proxy, on Saturday. Here are some snapshots: The “gutsy gelding” Funny Cide was trying to win a Triple Crown, a feel-good story about a New York-bred born at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds not far from Saratoga Race Course owned by some regular Joes who traveled from the hotel to the Triple Crown races in a yellow schoolbus.
Bummer for them. Empire Maker, ridden by Jerry Bailey, beat Funny Cide in the Belmont. As I walked up the .