Belmont Park meet is off and running
Belmont Park’s spring/summer meet opened on Friday, bringing with it the restoration of Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) service, a bevy of new food offerings, terrific thoroughbred racing, and an enthusiastic crowd of 5,979.
One of the highlights of the day was the arrival of the LIRR trains from Penn Station, with stops at Woodside and Jamaica. There will be two trains arriving at Belmont every day of the meet, with two daily return trains as well. Extra trains will run on Belmont Stakes Day, Saturday, June 11. Additional information is located at www.mta.info/lirr.
Friday also marked the opening of the brand new Heritage Club, Belmont’s third-floor food court that features a full-service bar with four 42-inch flat screen televisions. The Club also boasts expanded cuisine options, with a new burger grill, paninis, Tex-Mex and pizza.
There was also great racing action, with impressive victories by Chorus Music in the fourth race, the $60,000 Irish Linnet overnight stakes for New York-bred fillies and mares, and by Avenging Spirit in the eighth race, a $55,000 allowance optional claimer.
In the Irish Linnet, Chorus Music raced in fifth behind fractions of 50.12 and 1:14.12 over the yielding Widener turf course, circled horses turning for home, and blew past pacesetter Exclusive Scheme leaving the furlong marker, en route to a 5 ½-length triumph in her first start since November.
Chorus Music, trained by John Terranova for Curragh Stables and Gary Juster, was making her second start in a stakes, having finished second in the Ticonderoga over Belmont’s inner turf course on New York Showcase Day in October. The 6-year-old daughter of Strategic Mission entered today’s race off a 1 ¾-length victory in an Aqueduct starter allowance.
Off as the 2-1 favorite, Chorus Music returned $6.60 for a $2 win bet and completed the one-mile distance in 1:38.71. She is now 5-6-2 from 18 starts with $190,113 in earnings, including the $36,000 winner’s share of the Irish Linnet purse.
Avenging Spirit used front-running tactics to capture the eighth race, dictating splits of 46.74 and 1:10.70 and holding sway in the stretch under Jose Lezcano to prevail by 2 ¼ lengths. The 4-year-old gelded son of Tapit has now won two of his last three starts, having followed a victory in a March 10 allowance at Gulfstream Park with a runner-up effort behind Christmas for Liam, who is entered in tomorrow’s Grade 3 Westchester at Belmont, in a Gulfstream optional claimer on April 3.
Trained by Bobby Barbara for Joseph Bucci, Avenging Spirit paid $6.50 as the 2-1 second choice, improved his record to 3-6-1 from 14 starts, and earned $33,000 to push his career bankroll to $151,360. The final time for one mile on the main track was 1:35.59.
Belmont’s spring/summer meet runs 56 live racing days from Friday, April 29 – Sunday, July 17. The 143rd running of the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes, the third jewel in racing’s Triple Crown, will take place on Saturday, June 11.