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#1
07-07-2012, 11:55 AM
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Suburban Handicap
The Suburban Handicap was the most important and popular horse race in all of North America until the top 3yo Classic event, the Kentucky Derby, took over the title about 100 years ago.
The weights for the Suburban Handicap would often come out in early Feb. Top weight would typically be around 129lbs. Bottom weight of the horses who nominate for it would typically be about 84lbs. The spread would be 45lbs from top to bottom. Future book betting on the contest would be tremendously popular. Great fortunes would be gambled in the Suburban futures. Great horses like Salvator and Raceland won early editions in the late 1800's. It was often the first time when top 3yo's would step up and take on top older horses at 10 furlongs. The Handicap Triple Crown was the Met Mile, Brooklyn, and Suburban.   The 126th running of the Suburban Handicap will be run as Belmont Park's 9th race today. It's a Grade 2 now. It's no longer 10 furlongs now. It is still run under handicap conditions -- but top weight in this years edition is 120lbs (To Honor And Serve) and low weight is 115lbs (The fast but yet to even be Graded Stakes placed Buffum) In the old days, Buffum might have got in very light for this race. Probably 100lbs or less. Stay Thirsty, a Travers Winner, is assigned just 2 pounds more. The Suburban is no longer much of an attraction for top class 3-year-olds. Why would it be when you could run in races like the Iowa Derby, West Virgina Derby, Ohio Derby, Indiana Derby, or that $400,000 Red Legend Stakes for 3yo's at Charles Town that Hansen scratched out of to run in the more prestigious Iowa Derby the same day. Anyway, the Suburban is still a pretty decent race today, but it's not quite the Kentucky Derby's greatest rival as an event anymore. 
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#3
07-07-2012, 03:28 PM
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The purse for the Met Mile was 12K. The Suburban Handicap was run at a track called Sheepshead Bay. The 1905 edition was won by the 4-year-old filly Beldame and was worth 20K. The other jewel in the Handicap Triple Crown, the Brooklyn Handicap, was run at Gravesend. This was Sheepshead Bay at Coney Island:  This is a picture of Gravesend that was taken the day of the 1893 Brooklyn Handicap:  Both Sheepshead Bay and Gravesend were casualties of a statewide gambling ban on horse racing in 1910.
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#4
07-07-2012, 05:03 PM
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Not a bad renewal. Not sure what Mike Smith has on these owners to pick up these mounts.
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#5
07-07-2012, 05:28 PM
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#6
07-07-2012, 05:32 PM
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Smith has done a nice job of landing top class pick up mounts for a while.
Mucho Macho Man put it all together today. He's a June foal, so this was actually his first start ever as a 4-year-old in terms of birthday date. Good final time of 1:46 2/5 for 9 furlongs. The 1-2 finishers of the Cornhusker, (Fort Larned and Successful Dan) both dominated Mucho Macho Man last out... but obviously the freshening and the three straight bullet workouts proved a positive sign of health and things to come.
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#7
07-07-2012, 06:45 PM
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__________________
Revidere
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#8
07-07-2012, 07:13 PM
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 Those were his stats coming into today. He won two races today, The Mixer ($15.80) and he won the Grade 3 Victory Ride with Emma's Encore ($80.00) she's a $2,000 yearling who had never run a Beyer above 75. She was also a pick-up mount -- as Julian Leperoux chose to ride Tu Eni Wei instead. Junior's ridden 4,028 races in his career and is showing a flat bet profit for his life. As I said a few years ago, he was the finest bug rider I've ever watched. He had his bug at Calder near the end of 2007 -- and I followed Calder very closely leading into Gulfstream Park. It was a joke how much better he was than everyone else.
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#9
07-07-2012, 07:34 PM
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#10
07-07-2012, 08:07 PM
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Jockeys get too much attention from everyone in this sport.
Justin Stein was 23% with the bug at Hastings Park in 2005. Mario Gutierrez was 21% with the bug at Hastings Park in 2006. Stein won the Queen's Plate with a flawless ride and is a better jockey than most of the big name guys here. Gutierrez won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness this year with flawless rides, he just won a Graded Stake race at Hollywood today. He doesn't get the mounts. He lucked into I'll Have Another when he picked him up at 43/1 and he never got him beat. It's a whole lot of fashion. Look at Rosario. He was great until he cemented his status as a top jockey. Once he was made, he just looked to keep everything in the clear. Once a jockey gets that brand name -- they're made.
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#11
07-07-2012, 08:16 PM
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#12
07-07-2012, 08:17 PM
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#13
07-07-2012, 08:43 PM
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Maybe Smith's agent called first. Maybe Nakatani thought riding Regally Ready at Arlington for Assmussen was a better long term opportunity given the number of starters he rides for Assmussen compared to Ritvo. Maybe Rosie thought she had better possibilities down the road with Flat Out.
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Revidere
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#14
07-08-2012, 07:44 AM
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#15
07-08-2012, 09:47 AM
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Just more nebulous nonsense from BBB
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#17
07-09-2012, 08:37 AM
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Maybe Smith is looking to move his tack east again.
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