Triple Crown, Hold the Polytrack

It's 2009 and a whole new batch of strapping 3 year-old horses are getting primed to 'Run for the Roses' on Saturday, May 2. That means NYSPI is back in full effect.

With Triple Crown fever brewing around the country and the ubiquitous presence of polytrack (all-weather surfaces), my mind's been on Belmont. The site of the final leg of the Triple Crown in southern New York every June just might deserve special status.

Belmont is unique to all other New York thoroughbred tracks because of this one race that eteranlly links it to Churchill Downs and Pimlico to make up the greatest tradition in all of horse racing. Does anyone really dispute this?

Good, because if you don't, consider that Churchill Downs is not currently slated to have polytrack installed. Nor is Pimlico. They're both cool with dirt and so is all of New York.

If Churchill Downs and Pimlico (2 of 3 Triple Crown race sites) retain their dirt racing surfaces, it would be hard to justify installing it at the last Triple Crown track - Belmont.

Who wants to promote a Triple Crown trail that entails the first two races on dirt and the last one on polytrack? That's stupid.

If Churchill and Pimlico don't install polytrack then neither should Belmont.

But, that doesn't mean New York State should do nothing. Every other track in New York should install polytrack in a conscious effort to make horse racing safer.

Kentucky uses polytrack at Keeneland. New York should follow suit and at least mandate it at all NYRA-owned tracks.

Remembering Eight Belles' death in the Kentucky Derby last year is appropriate here because it happened on a dirt track. However, with all respect to Eight Belles, her catastrophic injuries should be considered an extremely rare tragedy.

For her legs to brake after the race the way they did, without her crashing into other horses or clipping heels with them, is something that I believe even the head veterinarian at Churchill said he had never seen in all his years of experience.

However, if the horse racing power players decide they want to make the sport safer by installing polytrack at Churchill and Pimlico, it'll be a no-brainer to do the same at Belmont.

That would be just fine by me.