Finally got home about 20 minutes ago.
What a great day. Gorgeous weather, and as much as I complained about NYRA capping attendance, it was soooo much more pleasant than last year. Food lines were crazy, and other than a few options, the food trucks were moved to an area in the back pretty far away, which I was not a fan of, as the lines were incredibly long and you were so far away from the action you were likely to miss a race or three. Lines to wager weren't bad, though.
I had four friends with me- three who came last year and the mother of one of those friends, who was also my Girl Scout troop leader when I was a kid. If you'd told me back then one day my Girl Scout troop leader would be buying me a drink at the racetrack...
Two of my friends are sound designers on Broadway, and as soon as the cast from
Jersey Boys started singing, they were discussing the vocals, and approvingly noting that the lead was singing without a backing track. Apparently, in the actual show he has a backing track, because nobody can sing those notes eight times a week. Fun fact for those who've seen the show. All I know is the obviously new at his job teller trying his best to place our bets panicked when the live music started because suddenly he could not hear anything we were saying. It was pretty funny.
My friends all had General Clubhouse admissions; I had one single reserved seat I bought in April, just in case, so I ended up sitting with strangers in the upper tier, two of whom got kicked out ten minutes before the race because they had actually snuck in without tickets. Great view of the finish line. The upper tiers very enthusiastically joined in on "New York, New York." My stepmom, of course, called with last-minute bets for me to run and place for her. On Materiality.
I've been at Belmont for Charismatic, Funny Cide, Smarty, Big Brown and Chrome. This was the only time I felt calm before the gates opened. There was a woman next to me (she very kindly let me move to her right so I could get a little further away from the very tall guy in front of me who kept weaving back and forth and blocking my view), who was terribly worried when AP was in front early, and I kept saying, "No, it's okay. It's not too fast. This is okay. He can win on the front," to her, until he started pulling away in the stretch and then we were both screaming. Yeah, as everyone said, the sound of the crowd was just incredible. And then it started again as Espinoza rode him back in front of the crowd after. So much joy.
And I have to give big props to NYRA for booking the Goo Goo Dolls after. A fairly sizable crowd stayed to listen, and I think it really helped slow the rush of people out to the LIRR. They closed with "American Girl," which is I guess the best song they could think of for American Pharoah. There was a moment when they were singing with the stage lights on them and the tractors drove behind them, smoothing out the track, and I thought, NYRA really did make this a festival.
The train situation was much better than last year- we got right on one, and although we then sat for a half hour because of a medical emergency of some kind, I can't blame NYRA for that. All in all, a really, really well run day.
Every year I record the Belmont (since I go to the track every year), and on the TC years, I come home and delete the recording without watching, because I can't bear to watch it. Now I can't wait to watch it first thing tomorrow morning.
At last.