Belmont notes/ Hot and very, very dry

A big crowd at Belmont Park – and there are few nowadays – is always a test of the 40-year-old building’s infrastructure and by midpoint of the 13-race card on Saturday, there was no water pressure, not a particularly pleasant turn of events for the those in attendance on an afternoon when the temperature reached 96.

Fortunately, with the use of bottled water provided by fans at the rail, Saint Daimon, who was in distress after the True North Handicap, won by Benny the Bull in dramatic style, was cooled sufficiently to leave the track under his own power. Two garbage cans were then filled from a water truck and positioned at the unsaddling point. A number of elderly fans suffering from the heat required first-aid. Presumably, bottled water as supplied to that facility.

Meanwhile, a packed house without working sanitary accommodations beyond portable toilets in the backyard area, not exactly a suitable alternative to running water, and sputtering air conditioning earned no customer-relations point for the New York Racing Association, which may have solved the problem of long restroom lines but will never again see many of those who turned out on Saturday.

Benny the Bull, fourth and four lengths behind Man of Danger with a furlong to run, appeared beaten in the six-furlong True North and closed resolutely to win by a neck in his first start since the Dubai Golden Shaheen, his fourth straight win since he was last defeated in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint last autumn. Edgar Prado rode what may be the best sprinter in the nation at this point, for the connections of Big Brown. Ventura took the one-mile Just a Game on the main turf course for Juddmonte Farm and trainer Bobby Frankel and Zaftig upset heavily favored Indian Blessing in the one-mile Acorn Stakes for three-year-old fillies, illustrating again the never dismiss a horse trained by Jimmy Jerkens rule. Indian Blessing offered no argument when challenged and has obviously not progressed from age two to three.

J Be K took an emphatic, frontrunning victory in the Wood Stephens, leading through a half-mile in :44.89, six furlongs in 1:08.78 and hit the wire after seven furlongs in 1:21.85, 5 ½ lengths clear of Silver Edition. Garrett Gomez rode a colt who may be the nation’s leading sprinter in his age group. The most stirring victory of the day, however, went to Dancing Forever, who fought back after being headed in deep stretch and won the Manhattan Handicap by a nose over Out of Control. Rene Douglas rode the physically imposing five-year-old for trainer Shug McGaughey. Dancing Forever ran 10 furlongs over the inner turf course in 1L59.62.

Thirty minutes to post time for the Belmont Stakes. --PM