Horse Racing

The blame game has begun following Saturday's Belmont Stakes in which Mine That Bird and jockey Calvin Borel finished third to Summer Bird and Kent Desormeaux. People are piling on Borel for what is being perceived as a poor ride.

Since there has not been a Triple Crown winner since 1978 special attention must be given to the 1 1/2 mile Belmont Stakes betting. Borel was going after his own personal Triple Crown this year with victories in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness on two different horses.

It's justified to blame Borel for not having a mount earlier in Saturday's Belmont Park program.

It would have been helpful for him to get the feel of the track prior to the $1 million event. However, no preliminary race gives any rider an insight into the extra-long Belmont Stakes.

These days 1 1/2 mile races are extremely rare in thoroughbred horse betting racing. The horses that ran in the Belmont Stakes never had a race that long and probably never will again.

Also, Belmont Park is 1 1/2 miles in circumference. meaning it poses an unusual configuration compared to the normal one-mile oval.