Belmont Stakes
Jun. 13th, 2014 05:58 pmSo the Belmont Stakes was a complete bust, sadly. Obviously the main reason being that California Chrome did not win--frankly I could've overlooked everything else had we all not been disappointed AGAIN. Coburn got a lot of crap for speaking out--and certainly his timing was bad--but he was absolutely right. Don't expect us to continue to give a crap about the triple Crown when we're currently in the middle of the longest stretch ever without a winner, and the system gets more and more stacked against the favorite. It's appalling. No horse should be at the Belmont who hasn't at least run in the Preakness. As far as I'm concerned, Tonalist did not deserve the victory and everyone around me felt the same way. No one gives a shit about your empty victory, Robert Evans.
That said, Belmont Park is a disgrace. When we finally got there (we left around noon but traffic was HORRENDOUS, it took us 3.5 hours to get there), we were able to squeeze into a parking spot along the side of the road, facing against the traffic. We walked up to the entrance and once we got in, the crowds were unbelievable. Record crowds, they said, and they actually closed the lot after a while. The lines were so long for everything--15 deep for food and upwards of 30-deep for cocktails--and it was so difficult to move around, I said to hell with it. Our seats were terrific though, front row of the second tier. Time and I decided we would try to get something to eat or drink after Race 11 (THE race--there are two more races after the Belmont Stakes) to give the crowd some time to dissipate. It was hopeless, though. We walked around the facilities for a while, fruitlessly searching for something to eat. Every single booth was closing up and all these lazy shitty temp workers just shrugged. Remember, there are still two races to run so there is absolutely no excuse for their refusal. Finally we gave up and decided to brave the crush in the parking lot. We were able to find our car and then we sat there because it was way too crowded to try to turn around. Finally Tim sort of begged other drives to give him room and we were able to enter the packed mass of cars. With all that it took us nearly an hour to exit the lot because Belmont Park provided neither employees nor police officers to try to direct traffic. The truly hilarious--and by hilarious, I mean it makes me want to scream in frustration--part is that the Belmont has a DRESS CODE. UGH. This pretentious pile of bricks has the audacity to expect us to dress up and in return they refuse to feed us or help us exit the park in a timely fashion. By the time we got back to the city I was going on over 12 hours with no food! I was RAVENOUS. And at this point a lot of restaurants had stopped serving as well. Finally we found a 24 hour diner and I was able to eat. Interestingly a couple of customers came in who'd also been at the Stakes--they noticed our lanyards with our tickets and said hi. They told us that the train was even worse--they were waiting on the platform for [b]hours[/b]. Guys, you've had over a hundred years at this--you really should know how to handle the big crowds better than this. Triple Crown threats happen all the time, they're not uncommon at all. Get your shit together, especially if you want us to dress up.
Tim and I decided that if we go next year, we get there at the crack of dawn and eat at the Clubhouse. And park in valet parking so we can get out easily.
That said, Belmont Park is a disgrace. When we finally got there (we left around noon but traffic was HORRENDOUS, it took us 3.5 hours to get there), we were able to squeeze into a parking spot along the side of the road, facing against the traffic. We walked up to the entrance and once we got in, the crowds were unbelievable. Record crowds, they said, and they actually closed the lot after a while. The lines were so long for everything--15 deep for food and upwards of 30-deep for cocktails--and it was so difficult to move around, I said to hell with it. Our seats were terrific though, front row of the second tier. Time and I decided we would try to get something to eat or drink after Race 11 (THE race--there are two more races after the Belmont Stakes) to give the crowd some time to dissipate. It was hopeless, though. We walked around the facilities for a while, fruitlessly searching for something to eat. Every single booth was closing up and all these lazy shitty temp workers just shrugged. Remember, there are still two races to run so there is absolutely no excuse for their refusal. Finally we gave up and decided to brave the crush in the parking lot. We were able to find our car and then we sat there because it was way too crowded to try to turn around. Finally Tim sort of begged other drives to give him room and we were able to enter the packed mass of cars. With all that it took us nearly an hour to exit the lot because Belmont Park provided neither employees nor police officers to try to direct traffic. The truly hilarious--and by hilarious, I mean it makes me want to scream in frustration--part is that the Belmont has a DRESS CODE. UGH. This pretentious pile of bricks has the audacity to expect us to dress up and in return they refuse to feed us or help us exit the park in a timely fashion. By the time we got back to the city I was going on over 12 hours with no food! I was RAVENOUS. And at this point a lot of restaurants had stopped serving as well. Finally we found a 24 hour diner and I was able to eat. Interestingly a couple of customers came in who'd also been at the Stakes--they noticed our lanyards with our tickets and said hi. They told us that the train was even worse--they were waiting on the platform for [b]hours[/b]. Guys, you've had over a hundred years at this--you really should know how to handle the big crowds better than this. Triple Crown threats happen all the time, they're not uncommon at all. Get your shit together, especially if you want us to dress up.
Tim and I decided that if we go next year, we get there at the crack of dawn and eat at the Clubhouse. And park in valet parking so we can get out easily.