The Look of Eagles

"About the head of a truly great horse there is an air of freedom unconquerable. The eyes seem to look on heights beyond our gaze. It is the look of a spirit that can soar. It is not confined to horses, even in his pictures you can see it in the eyes of the Bonaparte. It is the birthright of eagles."
--John Taintor Foote

Summer Bird has it, for sure! Check out this photo of his paddock schooling session for the Jockey Club Gold Cup here Wednesday afternoon. And when the call to the post rang out for the third race, he was practically dancing with anticipation. (NYRA Photo)

You can watch a short video of the schooling session here:

Busy Busy Busy

It was a busy morning here as no less than 10 contenders for Super Saturday's five Grade 1 stakes made the work tab. Belmont Stakes and Shadwell Travers winner Summer Bird positively glistened on track for his final tune-up for the Jockey Club Gold Cup, after which trainer Tim Ice -- growing a goatee, we see! -- chatted with NYRA's Eric Donovan. (And we threw in a snippet of the last part of Quality Road's work, because he looked awesome, too!!)

Nobody at Aqueduct but us chickens...

Actually, Friday's visit to Aqueduct found the place buzzing with activity, mostly of the horse/human variety, but we liked these chickens, too.

And we caught up with Gary Contessa, Rick Dutrow and Rick Violette - all of whom may be based at Aqueduct, but certainly can't be left out of Belmont-related discussions. All three trainers seemed excited about 2-year-olds who have started or will start here in New York.

Dutrow is pleased with last weekend's Grade 2 Futurity winner D' Funnybone, while Violette's Worstcasescenario is dealing with some minor foot issues following her eighth-place finish in the Grade 2 Matron. Meanwhile, Contessa is excited about the pair he's entered in Sunday's NY-bred stakes. Read more in today's Belmont Park notes and the advance for the state-bred races.

We're looking forward to a great weekend of racing here at Belmont and starting to get really psyched about Super Saturday on October 3 with Quality Road and Summer Bird meeting again in the Jockey Club Gold Cup and Gio Ponti returning to the turf in New York in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational. More on all that to come!

No Beans About It

Today's clever name belongs to an as-yet-unraced 2-year-old residing in Barclay Tagg's barn.

Here's ... Well Excuuuze Me.


Our first thought was that the owners had to be huuuuge Steve Martin fans. Turns out that they are, but that’s not exactly how the colt got his name. It’s because, well, um … we’ll just let owner Michael McGuire of Sure Thing Stable explain.

“There are other reasons we came up with the name,” said McGuire. “His dam is Pardon My Sarong, which is where excuse me comes from. But before he came to the racetrack, he had a couple of bouts of colic, and, well, with the colic, he had a lot of gas. After $10,000 worth of colic surgery, we just decided to have some fun with it. Plus, knowing how [track announcer] Tom Durkin can get very dramatic with his calls, like he did with Arrrrr, that’s what we came up with.”

Well Excuuuze Me is just about ready for the races, and Tagg has him penciled in for a one-mile maiden race on the Widener Turf on Super Saturday, October 3 here at beautiful Belmont Park. One thing we know for sure – he won’t run out of gas. (Ouch).

Autumn Bird

On a spectacular fall-like morning at Belmont Park, Summer Bird had his penultimate work for the October 3 Jockey Club Gold Cup, covering five furlongs in a spritely 1:00.05 with Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux up. Trainer Tim Ice was ecstatic over the work (but not nearly as ecstatic as when he and his wife, Heather, welcomed their first child, Carson James, on Tuesday) and gave it an A+. So did we!

Return of the Champ

2008 Eclipse Champion Midshipman made a successful return to the races at Belmont Park today, his first start since winning last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile. The Godolphin 3-year-old handled his first trip over a conventional dirt surface like, well, a champ!

Will dance for shellfish

Today's clever name belongs to a 2-year-old we plan to watch closely going forward. 

Meet Shrimp Dancer:

Shrimp Dancer (By Kitten's Joy out of Formal Dancer) is trained by David Donk and owned by William Bloom.  After making his first start in the mud at Saratoga, Donk moved the colt to the turf, where he ran third despite a troubled trip at the Spa on August 31.  Today, he broke his maiden at Belmont in style, drawing clear to win by 1 1/4-lengths on the grass.

With a name like Shrimp Dancer, we just had to ask.  (Especially after entertaining half-baked theories based on his breeding: "He's by Kitten's Joy...the dam is Formal Dancer...and...kittens dance for shrimp?")

Obviously we were wrong, but the colt's trainer was happy to set us straight.  Dancer does indeed come from the dam side, but shrimp comes straight from the owner.

"We were bouncing around some names and the Jockey Club rejected a couple and finally we came up with this," Donk said.  "Bill Bloom [founded] Eastern Seafood Co., which is one of the largest shrimp importers in the country." 

Not just the country -- according to the company website, Eastern Seafood is "one of the world's largest importers and marketers of shrimp." (Also note the shrimp in their logo.)

And there you have it.  Dance on, Shrimp Dancer. 

Clever horse name for Wednesday

Introducing a new feature here at Belmont Insider - Clever horse name of the hour/day/week/month...basically as often as a name catches our eye.

To be fair, this girl has been on our radar for some time.  Meet Edition Farm's Ouchy Night:

Ouchy Night is a 3-year-old filly trained by Tom Bush.  She's by Cactus Ridge, out of Minetonightsfirst.

Get it?  We think her name is pretty genius and were reminded how much we like it because she ran in Belmont's first race today, finishing fifth.  We think she's a fitting ambassador for our new feature and while her name is obviously a clever combination of her dam and sire, when we come across an interesting name without a clear origin, we'll check it out.  Suggestions welcome!

As promised...CATS!

Continuing the "other animals on the backstretch" theme, here are some photos of our feline friends:

These two belong to trainer Carl Domino.  The gray cat acts more like a dog and comes running to greet visitors, but his black and white companion shuns attention.  More after the jump!

Opening Day

There's free admission opening weekend at Belmont Park, beginning Friday. First race post time is 1 p.m., which means there's no official "Party at the Park" but that doesn't mean you can't make your own!!"