Hard track, sore feet

It was probably inevitable that Big Brown’s hoof problems would reappear at some point. Hoof problems in horses are usually chronic.

In terms of timing, two weeks before the 140th Belmont Stakes and the undefeated favorite’s bid to sweep the Triple Crown, affords Rick Dutrow and hoof specialist Ian McKinlay ample time to work on Big Crown’s left-fore hoof, the inside of which is now cracked. It is, though we are taking the diagnosis and prognosis provided by Dutrow and McKinlay as an accurate, not understated, assessment of the injury, not a large fissure, little more than a half-inch long.

“There are lots of quarter cracks here right now,” Dutrow said, who did not blame the ground at Belmont for the hiccup in Big Brown's advance on the Triple Crown but echoed a complaint heard often of late at Belmont, where the main track has gone from hard to harder and most trainers are opting to send horses to the training track in the morning.

The trend at Belmont, the beginning of which followed closely the arrival of John Passero, whose title is director of racing surfaces, from Maryland a few years ago, is troubling. Fast times do not horse races make and trainers have complained about the surfaces not only here but also at Aqueduct and Saratoga, where Passero's methods have turned the once famously deep and kind Oklahoma training track into the same close-to-pavement footing.

It is beyond time to stop the practice of rolling and sealing the ground in order to create artificially fast racetracks, which are punishing on horses and a disservice to their owners. Bettors have dealt with sloppy, muddy and otherwise moisture-effected surfaces for most history and injuries under those conditions were less frequent and severe.

Passero likes to call himself, “Fast Track,” which is revealing.

The sport, horses and people involved would be better served by someone who called himself, “Safe Track.” --PM


Commentator looms large in the Met Mile


Nick Zito made it to the Hall of Fame without ever having won the Met Mile but that gap in his resume will likely be filled on Monday afternoon by a very fast seven-year-old Distorted Humor gelding,

Commentator, winner of two starts in Florida this year by a combined 27 ¾ lengths, has a 4-0-2 record from six starts at Belmont Park, thrives on a schedule of widely spaced races and at distances up to a mile may be the best horse in the nation.


“Basically, spacing his races, giving him time to do what he’s got to do, that’s the main thing,’’ said Zito, who has named jockey John Velazquez to ride. “I wanted to get a mile race somewhere, but I didn’t get anything. The Westchester would have been too close so my choice was to just wait it out. No Grade 1 is easy; they never are. But he’s a great horse. If everything goes good, we’ll be happy.”


The most serious threat to the frontrunning Commentator in the nation’s oldest and most prestigious one-mile race run on dirt comes in the form of Divine Park, who in the favorite’s absence won the Westchester Handicap by five lengths with a career-best effort that suggests the he will either advance from that race or regress. Tough call, but Divine Park in on his best day capable of the upset should Commentator deliver less than his best. --PM