WE'VE MOVED!!!

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Consensus for Game 6 -- The Yankees!!

Thursday night's debacl...uh, game, notwithstanding, we knew we would find no shortage of New York Yankee fans among the horsemen and jockeys here at Belmont Park. It is New York Showcase Day, after all. And with South Bronx winning the third race (we are not making this up), who could possibly argue with them? Besides Andy Serling? Check it out below.

Separated at birth?

Sometimes, weird stuff occurs to us here at Insider.

Like the following comparison:

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas and superstar fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld...separated at birth?

(Perhaps betraying our lack of fashion sense, we think Lukas's classic blazer and matching tie and pocket square are the better look, but we understand that Lagerfeld is at the cutting edge of French fashion. Also the desire to compare them probably stems mostly from the sunglasses/suntan combo.)

We also came up with a couple of others...

There's veteran New York reinsman Richard Migliore (photo by the talented Sarah K. Andrew) and golfer Jim Furyk:

There's jockey/teen heartthrob Channing Hill and Gossip Girl star/teen heartthrob Chace Crawford

Now, we suspect you can do us one better, so please post comparison ideas of your own in the comments and we'll update with photos for the best suggestions.

Belmont Park at sunset

Still cold and windy, but the sun appeared briefly at the end of the race day Sunday and produced this glorious sunset, as seen from the roof of the building. Beautiful Belmont Park, indeed!

Neither rain, nor wind, nor gloom of night...*

We had some Nor'easter type conditions at Belmont Park during the latter half of the week and the bone-chilling dampness was at its height on Sunday. While there was no turf racing all weekend, business otherwise continued pretty much as usual around here, which is a testament to all the folks who work behind the scenes to make the racetrack go.

Trainers, exercise riders, grooms, hot walkers, NYRA employees and others simply put on their wet weather gear and went about their daily jobs. We snapped a few pictures this morning and this afternoon at the track and created the slide show above. While we're not to be deterred by a little wind and water, we are looking forward to next week's forecast, which calls for sunshine and temperatures in the 60s!

*Okay, we mucked with the Postal Service motto a little in the title of this post.

Rain, rain, go away...

Weather is usually ignored at Belmont Park because horse racing is one of the few sports to have proven virtually impervious to it. Sometimes, however, even the best turf course is up against it.

The New York Metropolitan area met the first breath of winter Thursday, and it was an awful big breath, as the temperature dipped into the mid-40's and the rain came down and wasn't scheduled to stop until, well, it wasn't scheduled to stop.

The Belmont turf course held up nicely through eight races on Thursday's nine race card, but the racing office decided to move the Grade 3, $100,000-added Athenia for fillies and mares from Saturday, October 17, to Wednesday, October 21, rather than card a strong grass race that scratches down to a few main-track-only runners. This helps make sure the fans have a good race to bet on and the integrity of the Athenia is protected.

The fourth race on Saturday now becomes the feature, and it is a strong allowance featuring Biker Boy, who came back recently with a solid second in his first start since running fourth last April in the Grade 1 Carter. Also lined up are 2007 Pennsylvania Derby winner Timber Reserve, Honour Devil, Unbridled Danger, Gold Trippi and Hunting.

It should still be a great weekend of racing at Belmont Park, and for railbirds who like to see the horses firsthand in the post parade, there's a very nice umbrella for sale in the Clubhouse gift shop.

Bye Bye Bird(ie)

It's a sad day here at Insider. You see, Summer Bird is flying West tomorrow. He's off for California and the Breeders' Cup first thing Monday morning and while we can't wait to watch him run at Santa Anita next month, we've gotten pretty used to having him around. His barn (both in Saratoga and here at Belmont) has been a regular stop on our morning tour on and off since May and this horse is an impossible habit to break.

Lucky for us, trainer Tim Ice plans to come back next year and bring the Bird with him, so this isn't so much "goodbye" as it is "see you later." Until then...we've made a video tribute to our morning routine. Enjoy!