How about those television ratings

There’s more stuff still buzzing around in the aftermath of Saturday’s train wreck at Belmont Park than has followed any of the many Triple Crown failures of the last three decades.

The television rating were terrific while the New York Racing Association was successful in drawing the smallest live crowd for a Triple Crown attempt since 1999, when Lemon Drop Kid won the Belmont and Charismatic broke his leg, which until Saturday topped the list of great Belmont Stakes train wrecks.

Big Brown is now at the complete opposite end of the Belmont spectrum than the one occupied, probably forever, by Secretariat.

At about 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, a number of children’s amusements that the marketing genius at NYRA thought would be just swell on Belmont Stakes day, were removed to make room in the backyard area for people who might actually bet.

Now here’s an experience. A racetrack with more than 94,000 people in heat that reached 96 degrees during the afternoon who were left to answer nature’s call in stairwells, bushes and portable toilets when low water pressure -- eventually no water pressure -- forced the closure of restrooms. Now that’s an experience that will bring you back to the races. That, and the new wooden furniture in the clubhouse lobby. C’mon.

Loss of water pressure is a preventative maintenance problem longstanding at Belmont – caused by obstructions, primarily tree roots clogging water lines – that until recent years had been routinely cleared in advance of the opening of Belmont. It will be rectified forthwith. First, clearing the pipes is probably a good deal cheaper than building new wooden furniture in the clubhouse lobby and, when you can’t pee in the Trustees’ restrooms … Well, you know.

Did I mention that the television ratings were good?

Think those people who were at home, and could pee anytime they wanted to, were saying … wish I was there.

NYRA spent the week signing sponsorship deals, UPS to Vitamin Water, but refused to approve a secondary sponsorship deal made by jockey Kent Desormeaux with Hooters, noted purveyor of beer and bar food served by attractive, provocatively attired young women. This might not have stood the test of several potential legal and constitutional objections, but coming as it did at the eleventh hour, was not contested by the jockey.

It was, however, of interest to an Atlanta newspaper, since that city is Hooters headquarters. The paper that covers Dixie like the dew reported:

"A conflict with one of our sponsors," said Gavin Landry, NYRA's senior vice-president of sales and marketing.

The name of the sponsor?

"We haven't released that. The sponsor wanted to remain anonymous."

A sponsor wants to remain anonymous?

"That's all I can do for you," Landry said.

The Hooters folk were disbelieving.

As you might imagine.

You cannot make this stuff up.

Desormeaux, sans Hooters logo, has been criticized for pulling up Big Brown.

At that point, Big Brown had been in a drive – in reality, Desormeaux was in a drive if not Big Brown – from the five-furlong pole to a point the just above the quarter pole. At that point, everyone at Belmont and anywhere else who was watching the race believed something had gone wrong. You could almost hear the PETA people running out for more poster board. Desormeaux, regardless of what he said to reporters, had to have been one of them.

Monday evening on the O’Reilly Factor: “What happened to Big Brown? Is it a steroid scandal?”

Jeeeezzzzzzzzzz.

Bill: Steroids are administered periodically, not on race day. If you believe, on the word of the trainer, considering Rick Dutrow’s long record of transgression that is not exclusive of deception, that anything had changed in Big Brown’s steroid schedule before the Belmont, you have swallowed a red herring. Want fries with that?

The whole sport is a steroid scandal. But, in light of this attention, perhaps not for long. The Congress is run by Democrats. It is an election year. There will be hearings.

Then, there will be, eventually, another scandal. --PM