Belmont question

[Zevida]

[QUOTE=Huntertwo;7590001]
Sherman said California Chrome will have a two-mile daily gallop as the Belmont Stakes nears. “It gives him a work back there,” Sherman said. “That’s all he needs. I will get the two miles into him every day. That will get him ready. I feel good about Victor coming out. We’ll be in good shape.”

Interesting that he will run C.C. 2 miles every day??? I thought that wasn’t normally done to prepare for a mile and a 1/2 ? Now I’m really confused…[/QUOTE]

A gallop build fitness and is done at a relaxed pace with no pressure. Gallops are usually 1-2 miles.

A “work” is done every 5-7 days and the horse is asked to run at race speed for a distance. You never work the full distance you expect the horse to run. Most works are 4-5 furlongs (1/2-5/8 mile), sometimes 6-7 furlongs (3/4-7/8 mile). For a work they will often still gallop - so if the horse goes out for a mile he might gallop the first 4 furlongs, then work the last 4 furlongs.

(I have never trained a racehorse and distances and days above are gross estimations based on reading.)

[Huntertwo]

[QUOTE=Zevida;7590963]
A gallop build fitness and is done at a relaxed pace with no pressure. Gallops are usually 1-2 miles.

A “work” is done every 5-7 days and the horse is asked to run at race speed for a distance. You never work the full distance you expect the horse to run. Most works are 4-5 furlongs (1/2-5/8 mile), sometimes 6-7 furlongs (3/4-7/8 mile). For a work they will often still gallop - so if the horse goes out for a mile he might gallop the first 4 furlongs, then work the last 4 furlongs.

(I have never trained a racehorse and distances and days above are gross estimations based on reading.)[/QUOTE]

Thank you… That makes much more sense now.

[Laurierace]

I wouldn’t completely agree with the explanation of works and gallops, but it is close enough. Once a horse is racing, two minute licks tend to build the stamina and the works build the speed so the only horses you would see working 6 furlongs or more are horses building up to their first race or first route race. Works are significantly below race speed regardless of the distance 99% of the time. Race speed is for races.

[tbchick84]

[QUOTE=Nikki^;7589440]
When does Belmont park open on Saturday? I’m going but i want to be there early enough to get a great spot in the grand stand.[/QUOTE]

You need a ticket for the grandstand. Thanks to Belmont being turned over to Ticketmaster for sales, all are sold through scalpers at a huge profit over face value. Rumor has it they might even sell only a limited number of general admission tickets too, so get their early if you want to get in.

[Laurierace]

That rumor is being perpetuated by the scalpers. There is no limit to general admission.

[tbchick84]

What I heard is that they don’t want the type of crowd they had at the Big Brown year when all the bathrooms failed and will cut off general admission if necessary to prevent an overly huge crowd.

The whole thing really steams me. It used to be you sent in your seat request directly to the folks at the track and got your seats via a lottery system. It was $5 for the okay seats and $10 for the good ones for Belmont day. $2 to park and everyone had a nice day. Fast forward a few years, I don’t know who took over what, but the lottery thing is gone, all the tickets are through Ticketmaster and the prices start at $45, not that you can get anything at face value since the scalpers buy everything and resell for hundreds more. Parking was still just $2 last year, but I’m waiting for the year I drive in and find that at $50 too. Belmont used to be a pretty track where horse lovers could go and have a nice day at the races. Now it’s just one more overpriced, unaffordable day where a bunch of trend hopping idiots go to get drunk. I’ll stop ranting now.