6/10 (BEL): Belmont Stakes Day
 

Wait...they're putting blinkers on Angel of Empire? What the hell for?

Are they kicking themselves because he wasn't closer to that :45+ pace in the Kentucky Derby? He would have finished behind Hit Show...

And ironically Hit Show would probably benefit with blinkers after hanging between horses in his last 2 starts.

I give up.

Prat can take them of him at the top of the stretch if he thinks the blinkers arent working

Hilarious jockey quotes from the Belmont:

Luis Saez, jockey of third-place Tapit Trice (No. 2): “Perfect trip. Broke from there and we were following the speed. Right at the three-eighths, I started making a little move. He kind of took a little while to get going, but I feel like he was coming. He tried. The winner, when he got there, Javier, he was gone. But Tapit Trice, he tried.”

Saez clearly doesn't ride at Belmont every day because from the above he clearly has no clue which pole is which out there.

Anyone who watched the race saw him try to loop the field at the FIVE-EIGHTS, not the three-eights. In fact his horse was briefly in second nearly a furlong before the three-eighths. Moved way too soon & conceivably cost his mount a second place finish.

Flavien Prat, jockey of fourth-place Angel of Empire (No. 8): “I wish I could have waited a bit more, but a horse made a move on the outside and we had to go from there. But basically, no excuse.”

Wish you could have waited? FYI, the horse that made a move on the outside was in fact Tapit Trice (see above). All these years I was unaware that jockeys had to follow stupid moves made by other jockeys regardless of their better judgment. Do they get DQ'd by the stewards or something when they fail to comply?

Good thing Forte is no longer capable of running on the turns else Ortiz might also be wishing he could have waited "a bit more". Stewards should review the race to see if he did all he could to follow Saez's move in case they need to DQ Forte from his runner-up finish.

It wasn't all bad though:

Jose Ortiz, jockey of ninth-place Tapit Shoes (No. 1): “I was sitting right off National Treasure every step of the way, but honestly by the five-eighths pole I was running out of horse.”

Tapit Shoes does indeed spit the bit just after the five-eights pole...which coincidentally is at the same point when Tapit Trice makes his move...you know, the three-eights pole in Saez Land...

I also recall Tapit Trice having a bit of trouble at the start that cost him a length or so.

Thanks, I chalked it up to him being a plodder. He certainly was outrun in the first hundred yards after the break but there was no contact with the horses on either side of him.

However, he does toss his head up in the air about 3 strides in so it's possible he struck himself (back foot interfering with front foot).

It would be nice if it was routine to report things like interference strikes, grab quarters, lost shoes, etc. Can be useful information...if your nitpicky, anyways.