Belmont Park Hopes to Breed Goodwill

Even in the best of times, Belmont Park has struggled as a host for the Breeders’ Cup. In 1995, in its last running here, Breeders’ Cup day was a mess: There were muddy running conditions for the horses, and for the fans, concession stands ran out of food early in the day, long lines at the mutuel windows frustrated bettors and the weather was cold and damp. The crowd of 37,246 is still well below the next lowest in Breeders’ Cup history.

The first Breeders’ Cup at Belmont, in 1990, is also memorable for all of the wrong reasons, although track management could hardly have been blamed then. On a day when the temperature never reached 45 degrees--the coldest Breeders’ Cup of them all--there was a two-horse spill in the first race of the day. One horse was euthanized on the track and the other horse, who broke his back, died later.

That accident happened on the second turn, far from the gaze of the crowd, but one race later there was a horrifying breakdown in front of the stands. Go For Wand, voted champion 2-year-old filly the year before, fell, got back up on only three good legs and staggered diagonally across the track, toward the outer rail, as she instinctively tried to reach the finish line. She was given a lethal injection while the trainer’s wife cradled the horse’s head in her arms.

Breeders’ Cup officials unofficially penalized Belmont Park for the 1995 contretemps, sending their races to Canada, California, Florida and Churchill Downs twice in ensuing years, but now the event’s 18th running is returning to the historic Long Island track on Saturday. Coming less than two months after two hijacked commercial airliners were crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, about 20 miles away, this Belmont Breeders’ Cup brings an eerie backdrop unlike any other in the series.

After thousands of people died in lower Manhattan on Sept. 11, Belmont Park, one of the staging areas for the relief effort, didn’t race for a week. Breeders’ Cup officials say there was never any thought of moving the races to another track. “In the aftermath of all that,” D.G. Van Clief, the Breeders’ Cup president, said last week, “this Breeders’ Cup takes on a different meaning than normal. We’re dedicating the day to the people of New York for their courage and sacrifices. Perhaps we’ll be a small building block in the whole rehabilitation process. We’ll be proud to play a small role in that process.”

Terry Meyocks, president of the New York Racing Assn., which runs Belmont, is upbeat about the track getting another Breeders’ Cup chance.

“Right after the attacks, we had a number of cancellations for Breeders’ Cup day,” Meyocks said. “But we’ve resold those seats. We have reservations for 20,000 seats, 5,300 in the dining rooms and we’ve added tents to accommodate people around the track. They’ve had crowds of 56,000 at Yankee Stadium, everybody having a good time. New York is still alive and it’s still the greatest city in the world.”

Only 104 horses were pre-entered to run Saturday, the smallest number since the Breeders’ Cup was expanded from seven to eight races three years ago, and this group is also devoid of box-office horses, the kind that might bring out the casual fan. Neither Monarchos, the Kentucky Derby winner, nor Point Given, who won the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes--the other Triple Crown races--survived the campaign. Should nothing compelling happen Saturday, many Eclipse award voters will cast horse-of-the-year ballots for Point Given, who was injured and retired in August.

The Breeders’ Cup is encouraged that about one-fifth of the pre-entered horses will be coming from Europe, which has averaged a winner a year in the first 17 runnings. Actually, 14 of this year’s 20 foreign horses come from two stables--eight running for the Dubai-based Godolphin Racing and six trained by Aidan O’Brien, whose clients stable their horses in County Tipperary, Ireland.

Many of these trans-oceanic invaders have good chances, which have Europeans anticipating the possibility of their best Breeders’ Cup yet. Expected to run in the $4-million Classic, the richest race on the card, are Galileo, O’Brien’s English and Irish Derby winner, and Godolphin’s Fantastic Light, the only horse to beat Galileo. Godolphin is also bringing Sakhee, recent winner of the Arc de Triomphe, France’s premier race, who will be favored in the $2-million Breeders’ Cup Turf.

Godolphin is the equine fiefdom of Sheik Mohammed al Maktoum, crown prince of Dubai and defense minister of the United Arab Emirates. Should Sheik Mohammed and owners of horses from Saudi Arabia attend the Breeders’ Cup, they could present additional security concerns for Belmont Park, which has been in contact with the FBI and will be beefing up its coverage with more than 200 operatives from Nassau County. Fans will not be able to bring coolers and backpacks into the track and hundreds of media members will be required to show a working credential and one other form of identification when entering the track and visiting the barn areas.

Besides Sheik Mohammed’s group, other horses scheduled to run are the undefeated Officer, the Juvenile favorite owned by Ahmed Salman, and favorites Aptitude (Classic) and Flute (Distaff), who race for Khalid Abdullah. Salman and Abdullah are members of Saudi Arabia’s royal family. Trainers and advisors for the Arab horsemen say they do not know if their clients will be at Belmont.

“The sheik never discusses his travel plans with me,” said Simon Crisford, who manages the Godolphin horses. “He’s given me no indication either way regarding New York.”

Sheik Mohammed was buying horses at an auction in Lexington, Ky., the day the planes slammed into the World Trade Center. A few days later, the sheik announced that he was giving $5 million to the relief effort--believed to be the largest individual contribution--and condemned the attacks. Last week, the sheik announced that he has established a foundation to fund refugee camps in Afghanistan for those stranded near the Pakistan border.

Salman, who also raced Point Given, stays close to his horses, but he was not at Belmont Park on Oct. 6, when Officer prepped for the Breeders’ Cup by winning the Champagne Stakes. Like Sheik Mohammed, Salman has spoken out against the terrorists.

“This was a cowardly act against civilians,” he said recently. “We have had terrorism in Saudi Arabia and we know how painful it is, but I have great confidence in the American government and the American people.”