Letter to the Editor: Time to Fill the Lake

By Tim Wickes

I just finished rereading Amie Karlsson's Op/Ed piece in the Monday TDN and it's a good one. Swedish by birth and upbringing, freelance journalist, lifelong racing fan, and 2016-2018 Godolphin Flying Starter, Karlsson's thoughts on her first GI Belmont S., her enthusiasm for the day, coupled with her observations on the shortcomings of the NYRA experience were spot on. Nice pick, Godolphin. That girl is here to stay. So now I want to get my two pennies worth on top of hers.

First the good–Martin Panza and his posse rounded up an amazing card of racing–certain to make the top five of the last year. Future Hall of Famer Songbird (Medaglia d'Oro) dusted off seven months of rust, benefitted from a slick (Mike) Smith Special of a ride and brought another piece of silver home for Rick Porter's trophy case. And that was after Abel Tasman (Quality Road) claimed best-in-show status among sophomore fillies and just before “Was that a bird? Was that a plane?” No, that was Disco Partner (Disco Rico) obliterating the all-surfaces world record for six furlongs. Whooosh!

Mor Spirit (Eskendereya) was definitely 'Mor' horse in the GI Met Mile. Baffert won four and Smith won five. Somebody needs to divert those West-Coast planes from JFK. Oh yeah, there was a pair of Grade I turfers that the East-Coast boys ruled and Pletcher reminded us that he's…Pletcher in the Belmont. Great race, great finish. The good horses ran like good horses all day and Grandma cashed a lot of show tickets. NYRA has the money, Panza knows how to spend it and sell it to horsemen coast to coast, and with a fairy dusting of drama, we have a race day for the ages.

Now the bad. Bobby Flay says the Belmont is his favorite race day of the year, but Bobby's got sweet seats. As Karlsson points out, the NYRA fan experience has holes in it like the toes of a cheap man's socks. In spite of a grandstand that's bigger then Delaware, there aren't enough big screens. Whether you're on the rail, on the apron, or in the grandstand, you're probably not hearing the lilting tones of Larry Collmus because the sound system's worse then the one in my mom's old Chevy wagon. And for the casual racegoer (80 % of the crowd) it's easier to get useful info out of Vlad Putin then out of the NYRA program.

As the Swede savant states, there was only a wisp of a mention of Songbird in all her diva-ness, less on Baffert, Smith and the other legends of the day. The millennial Karlsson found no interviews with contenders' connections, no fun stories on the horses. In short, nothing to pump the casual fan up to committed status. Amie is no different than my 20-something and early 30's kids. They want info, lots of info, short and sweet like their Jell-O shots. Think ESPN before the Super Bowl or Neil Patrick Harris on an awards show. Something for everybody and quick as a borscht belter's schtick.

Finally the ugly. First my friends Josh and Phillip stole their wives' mad money, threw on their slickest sport coats and happily tolerated the traffic into Big Sandy content in the knowledge that they could gamble the day away on their TwinSpires accounts. Not so much. Seems TwinSpires was blocked on site, hence two of the worst gamblers in the free world, choosing not to stand in line, came home with Mama's money. C'mon NYRA, make it easy for everybody to lose equally regardless of platform.

And then there's the crowd–or lack of one. Stop acting like 58,000 is a good thing. Forget that it's less than half of what they get at the first two jewels of the crown. It's less then the GI Arkansas Derby's 62,500 and way less than the Carolina Cup Steeplechase's 71,000 strong in Kershaw County, S.C., where the total population is 63,000. A Thoroughbred race day whose crowd is larger then the whole damn county, imagine that.

At this year's Lexington dinner for the 2017 Godolphin Flying Start graduates, the question was posed: “How do we make racing cool?” A good question for NYRA's next board meeting, “How do we make Belmont cool?” The upcoming changes at Aqueduct allow us to dream that NYRA has a grand plan for Belmont.

Tear down that grandstand, fill in that lake. Build a new grandstand that reflects the 21st-Century fan base. Think Camden Yards in Baltimore and the revolutionary effects its creation had on Major League Baseball in the early 90's. Build a tunnel to the infield and use those 40+ acres for more then housing waterfowl. Take a page from steeplechasing, and create a tailgating atmosphere on big race days. Build us racing's shining city on the hill. This is New York for God's sake; think BIG. Make us proud and in doing so, fill the place up.

Thank you, Amie Karlsson. Your rabid enthusiasm and keen, thoughtful critique of your day at the races makes us think about what might and should be. Keep poking the bear.