Belmont Day

The Week in Review On a day when there were three stakes races, two of them Grade I's, at Santa Anita, the biggest draw on the Monday card was a maiden, Eagles Flight (Curlin). He drew more fans to the paddock than were there for any of the stakes. That's what happens when you're making your first start and are a half-brother to the great Flightline (Tapit). Crank up the hype machine. Eagles Flight, sent off at 11-10, won by 2 3/4 lengths, drawing away with ease inside the final...

How poignant that, in this of all weeks, the two most breathtaking winners on Belmont day should both have prompted comparisons with Ghostzapper, whose GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Lone Star Park in 2004 was surely the greatest Thoroughbred performance ever on Texan soil. Because while the whole racing world came to Dallas that day, it appears that there will be no reciprocal embrace when it comes to the standards sought—not just federally, but internationally—to give American horseracing credibility in the contest for public engagement in the 21st Century.

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 1st-BEL, $90K, Msw, 2yo, 5 1/2f, 11:35 a.m. Juvenile colts kick off the festivities on GI Belmont S. day. Trainer Todd Pletcher will saddle three for the big one, and two members of the next generation in here. Repole Stable, St. Elias Stable and Gainesway Stable's Wit (Practical Joke) was a $575,000 Keeneland September buy. He is a half brother to the talented Washington-based GSW Barkley (Munnings). Wit's stablemate Keepcalmcarryon (Union Rags) cost $75,000 at the same auction. His dam Lavender Chrissie (Scat Daddy) was...