The Challenge Of Belmont Is As Much The Distance As The Trac
Jun 3, 2015 22:58:59 GMT -5
Post by Evelyn on Jun 3, 2015 22:58:59 GMT -5
I thought this was interesting. Do you think any of the jockeys for this year's Belmont may misjudge the race?
McCarron: The Challenge Of Belmont Is As Much The Distance As The Track
by Natalie Voss
Paulick Report
Hall of Fame jockey Chris McCarron won the Belmont Stakes twice in his career (in 1986 aboard Danzig Connection and in 1997 aboard Touch Gold). He also navigated the Big Sandy to take Tiznow to his famous victory in the 2001 Breeders’ Cup Classic. McCarron founded the North American Racing Academy after hanging up his tack and retired from daily duties there in 2014. He recently took some time to explain the challenges and complexities of Belmont Park and specifically the Belmont Stakes from a rider’s perspective.
How does the track layout make a Belmont Stakes ride more challenging for the jockey? The track is only a challenge for someone who doesn’t have a decent amount of experience on it. A person like Victor [Espinoza, jockey of American Pharoah], he’s ridden there a bunch. It’s not going to be a challenge for him.
Since the track is 1 ½ miles in circumference, the poles are situated at different places. I happened to be watching Spectacular Bid’s Belmont try a couple of nights ago on HRTV or TVG, and Ron Franklin asked that horse to run before he got to the half-mile pole…before he got to the mile pole, let alone the half-mile pole. It was pretty obvious that Ron was not familiar with the location of the marker poles, so he asked the horse to do way too much and [Spectacular Bid] just couldn’t overcome it.
But the riders that are competing in the Belmont, they will have done their homework. They will be able to analyze the race to the nth degree. I don’t think the track and its layout is as much a challenge to riders as it is to the horses with getting that distance.
Does the fact that Belmont is a larger oval make things more difficult for a horse who prefers to stay off the rail in the two- or three-path? I don’t think so. My feeling is (and I don’t know if this is correct physics-wise) I don’t know that a bigger track offers the opportunity to lose more ground if you’re three-wide. I do know that on a mile track, the smaller circumference of the track makes it more possible to lose ground. Churchill or Pimlico have sharper turns than Santa Anita or some other mile tracks. Ground loss happens because of the radius of the turn, not so much because of the distance traveled through it. The reason I surmise that is because I’ve seen so many horses over the years get really wide at Belmont and still be able to come on and get the job done. If you go really, really wide on a mile track that has sharp turns, you’re really compromising your chances. Centripetal force comes more into play on a mile track than on a mile and a half track because the turns are so gradual.
In the 1997 Belmont, it looked like the track’s gradual turns allowed you and Touch Gold to sort of float behind Free House in the later part of the race, allowing you to sneak up on Silver Charm and Gary Stevens a little bit. Does the track’s construction make it easier to get a little more strategic in late traffic? Over the years, I’ve received a lot of compliments for my ride on Touch Gold that year. People have said, ‘Oh you did such a great job of taking him back,’ when quite frankly I didn’t really take him back, I just didn’t allow him to accelerate.
They picked up the pace around the first turn and I found myself in front. Touch Gold really was a speed horse: he won the Lexington Stakes wire to wire two weeks before the Derby (he wasn’t nominated for the Derby, which is why he missed it, and he stumbled badly out of the gate in the Preakness, otherwise he would’ve been in front all the way in the Preakness and I believe he would have won). In the Belmont, he broke a little slowly and when he got running, he pulled me to the front. When he got to the lead, he threw his ears up and relaxed really well. Desormeaux (on Free House) and Stevens both wanted to keep me from slowing the pace down; they didn’t want me to, what we call “walk the dog.” I was going very slow and they knew that my horse would run, so they quickened. Stevens forced Desormeaux’s hand, who forced Bailey’s hand, and they tried to force my hand, but I just didn’t allow Touch Gold to accelerate. I just stayed where I was.
It was preconceived that if I got the chance to get to Silver Charm, I’d try to get out away from him. I didn’t want him to be able to look Touch Gold in the eye. When I got to him, I didn’t want him to have the chance to be that dogged fighter that he showed in all of his previous races. I tried to get way out in the middle of the racetrack to create a situation where he’d be less competitive.
So it was more the set up of that race than the track that allowed you to ride that way? Exactly.
Does the sandy surface and longer distance of the Belmont Stakes change the way jockeys look at the pace of the race? If you go back and look at the charts of the Belmont the last, say, 40 years, speed is very dangerous. Very seldom does a horse come from way, way back, despite the fact that it’s a mile and a half. You would think that you could save your horse and come from behind, but tactically speaking, a horse that has decent speed who can lay close is much more dangerous in the Belmont than one that comes from way out of the clouds.
You were sitting on a potential Triple Crown around this time in 1987 with Alysheba. What does the psychological pressure and media attention do for someone in Victor’s position at this point?
If I had to do it all over again, I would hire a publicist. I was so overwhelmed with all the interviews and stuff I had to do—on the phone, in person, I had to travel to do some. I would hire somebody who could field these phone calls and schedule conference calls so I wouldn’t have to answer the same questions over and over and over again. I was getting calls from reporters in Fargo, North Dakota. It’s wonderful. I accommodated everybody, but it was so taxing. I’d come back after riding the first three races at Hollywood Park, and the clerk of scales would say, ‘Chris you got two more phone calls you’ve got to return.’ I wouldn’t have time to relax between my races at Hollywood Park, as I’m trying to go out there and ply my trade. It was difficult for me to really focus on what I was supposed to do.
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This entry was posted in Triple Crown and tagged Alysheba, belmont park, belmont stakes, chris mccarron, Horse Racing, Jockeys, Paulick Report, Silver Charm, thoroughbred by Natalie Voss. Bookmark the permalink.
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PAULICK REPORT | McCarron: The Challenge Of Belmont Is As Much The Distance As The Track
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McCarron: The Challenge Of Belmont Is As Much The Distance As The Track
by Natalie Voss
Paulick Report
Hall of Fame jockey Chris McCarron won the Belmont Stakes twice in his career (in 1986 aboard Danzig Connection and in 1997 aboard Touch Gold). He also navigated the Big Sandy to take Tiznow to his famous victory in the 2001 Breeders’ Cup Classic. McCarron founded the North American Racing Academy after hanging up his tack and retired from daily duties there in 2014. He recently took some time to explain the challenges and complexities of Belmont Park and specifically the Belmont Stakes from a rider’s perspective.
How does the track layout make a Belmont Stakes ride more challenging for the jockey? The track is only a challenge for someone who doesn’t have a decent amount of experience on it. A person like Victor [Espinoza, jockey of American Pharoah], he’s ridden there a bunch. It’s not going to be a challenge for him.
Since the track is 1 ½ miles in circumference, the poles are situated at different places. I happened to be watching Spectacular Bid’s Belmont try a couple of nights ago on HRTV or TVG, and Ron Franklin asked that horse to run before he got to the half-mile pole…before he got to the mile pole, let alone the half-mile pole. It was pretty obvious that Ron was not familiar with the location of the marker poles, so he asked the horse to do way too much and [Spectacular Bid] just couldn’t overcome it.
But the riders that are competing in the Belmont, they will have done their homework. They will be able to analyze the race to the nth degree. I don’t think the track and its layout is as much a challenge to riders as it is to the horses with getting that distance.
Does the fact that Belmont is a larger oval make things more difficult for a horse who prefers to stay off the rail in the two- or three-path? I don’t think so. My feeling is (and I don’t know if this is correct physics-wise) I don’t know that a bigger track offers the opportunity to lose more ground if you’re three-wide. I do know that on a mile track, the smaller circumference of the track makes it more possible to lose ground. Churchill or Pimlico have sharper turns than Santa Anita or some other mile tracks. Ground loss happens because of the radius of the turn, not so much because of the distance traveled through it. The reason I surmise that is because I’ve seen so many horses over the years get really wide at Belmont and still be able to come on and get the job done. If you go really, really wide on a mile track that has sharp turns, you’re really compromising your chances. Centripetal force comes more into play on a mile track than on a mile and a half track because the turns are so gradual.
In the 1997 Belmont, it looked like the track’s gradual turns allowed you and Touch Gold to sort of float behind Free House in the later part of the race, allowing you to sneak up on Silver Charm and Gary Stevens a little bit. Does the track’s construction make it easier to get a little more strategic in late traffic? Over the years, I’ve received a lot of compliments for my ride on Touch Gold that year. People have said, ‘Oh you did such a great job of taking him back,’ when quite frankly I didn’t really take him back, I just didn’t allow him to accelerate.
They picked up the pace around the first turn and I found myself in front. Touch Gold really was a speed horse: he won the Lexington Stakes wire to wire two weeks before the Derby (he wasn’t nominated for the Derby, which is why he missed it, and he stumbled badly out of the gate in the Preakness, otherwise he would’ve been in front all the way in the Preakness and I believe he would have won). In the Belmont, he broke a little slowly and when he got running, he pulled me to the front. When he got to the lead, he threw his ears up and relaxed really well. Desormeaux (on Free House) and Stevens both wanted to keep me from slowing the pace down; they didn’t want me to, what we call “walk the dog.” I was going very slow and they knew that my horse would run, so they quickened. Stevens forced Desormeaux’s hand, who forced Bailey’s hand, and they tried to force my hand, but I just didn’t allow Touch Gold to accelerate. I just stayed where I was.
It was preconceived that if I got the chance to get to Silver Charm, I’d try to get out away from him. I didn’t want him to be able to look Touch Gold in the eye. When I got to him, I didn’t want him to have the chance to be that dogged fighter that he showed in all of his previous races. I tried to get way out in the middle of the racetrack to create a situation where he’d be less competitive.
So it was more the set up of that race than the track that allowed you to ride that way? Exactly.
Does the sandy surface and longer distance of the Belmont Stakes change the way jockeys look at the pace of the race? If you go back and look at the charts of the Belmont the last, say, 40 years, speed is very dangerous. Very seldom does a horse come from way, way back, despite the fact that it’s a mile and a half. You would think that you could save your horse and come from behind, but tactically speaking, a horse that has decent speed who can lay close is much more dangerous in the Belmont than one that comes from way out of the clouds.
You were sitting on a potential Triple Crown around this time in 1987 with Alysheba. What does the psychological pressure and media attention do for someone in Victor’s position at this point?
If I had to do it all over again, I would hire a publicist. I was so overwhelmed with all the interviews and stuff I had to do—on the phone, in person, I had to travel to do some. I would hire somebody who could field these phone calls and schedule conference calls so I wouldn’t have to answer the same questions over and over and over again. I was getting calls from reporters in Fargo, North Dakota. It’s wonderful. I accommodated everybody, but it was so taxing. I’d come back after riding the first three races at Hollywood Park, and the clerk of scales would say, ‘Chris you got two more phone calls you’ve got to return.’ I wouldn’t have time to relax between my races at Hollywood Park, as I’m trying to go out there and ply my trade. It was difficult for me to really focus on what I was supposed to do.
New to the Paulick Report? Click here to sign up for our daily email newsletter to keep up on this and other stories happening in the Thoroughbred industry
This entry was posted in Triple Crown and tagged Alysheba, belmont park, belmont stakes, chris mccarron, Horse Racing, Jockeys, Paulick Report, Silver Charm, thoroughbred by Natalie Voss. Bookmark the permalink.
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Who will win the Belmont Stakes?
Mubtaahij (post 1)
Tale of Verve (post 2)
Madefromlucky (post 3)
Frammento (post 4)
American Pharoah (post 5)
Frosted (post 6)
Keen Ice (post 7)
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Emily White
Contributing Writers
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Frank Mitchell
Jen Roytz
Photography
EquiSport Photos (Matt and Wendy Wooley)
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PAULICK REPORT | McCarron: The Challenge Of Belmont Is As Much The Distance As The Track
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