A Horseplayers Review Of The New Belmont Park And Go Go Greys Gets A Second Winner - At The Post With Mut
One of the first people I talked to on my first trip out to a renovated Belmont Park on Thursday was an older racing fan named Ira. He lived in NY most of his life, is now retired to Napa, but came back for the racing this weekend in New York.
We first started talking along on the track apron because we both agreed Luis Rivera went WAY too fast in the opener on Thursday. This new Belmont surface is playing to speed on the main track (big time, in my opinion), and the jockey tried to take advantage - it didn't work. We talked about the race and a horse he liked later (R Disaster, a winner). Like me, it was Ira's first day at the track. Plenty of social media pushback has followed NYRA's $500 million renovation, and I was curious what this veteran racing fan thought of the 'new' Belmont.
"Some people don't like a good steak."
Like me, he had heard all the negativity. And like me, he really liked the new building.
I was there to see Lovely Grey make her comeback in the Grade 3 Winter Memories. But selfishly, I also wanted to see how Belmont turned out. In 2026, we're not building new race tracks; we're tearing 'em all down. So yeah, I wanted to like the renovation since it's the second-closest track to where I live. New England racing is dead, so those of us in Massachusetts have to call Saratoga and Belmont 'home.'
So maybe I'm biased, but I walked away loving the new Belmont.
I got on the LIRR from Penn Station on the 12:44 train - they had a bunch of trains headed to Elmont on Thursday. And it looked like there were more from Grand Central. I took it out to Jamaica and got off there to transfer to the Hempstead line. Which meant getting off the train and waiting two minutes for the next train on the same track. Simple.
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From Penn to the Elmont/USB platform was 40 minutes or so on two comfortable trains.
The train platform is about a mile from the actual Belmont entrance. There are shuttles waiting to take you over in a 5-minute ride (free) right when you get off the train. Or you can take the 19-minute walk down the Green Path. It was a beautiful day, so I walked. Driving in and parking at the Belmont lot would be a different experience, obviously. Looked like there was a huge ride-share lot right there, if you wanted to UBER/LYFT.
You got right past the Islanders' new home, UBS Arena. And I mean, it's right next to Belmont.
You're greeted by a mammoth video board next to an even more mammoth Belmont building.
The Paddock is awesome. Great views. Huge video board. Different viewing levels. Seating to sit and handicap in the sun. They crushed this.
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The track apron gives you a great view of the racing, especially with the 6-story video board in the infield. It's cumbersome if you're watching the races at home, and all of a sudden a video board blocks your view of the race, but it 100% makes the on-track experience better - I get why they did it for the fans on-track.
The building is huge, and it took a little while to figure out. There are a few restaurants on the lower level, plus some Grab-and-Go type concessions. There looked to be some fine dining or club-level style bars as well, but I didn't check those out.
WiFi was great. Customer service was helpful. Sightlines were good. The paddock is unreal - then on the apron, the horses walk right under the building, out to the track. Pretty cool visual every race. It had a Churchill Downs-type feel. The sound system was loud, and they played the Fox Sports coverage before the races.
It wasn't all A+. I didn't really check out the backyard area, but there are a bunch of signs that said Coming in 2027, so it feels like that will be the last space to get set up. It's a huge area - hopefully NYRA rescinds this current (and very dumb) policy that says you can't bring in your own coolers, food, or drink. That policy is a big negative - if you want locals to make the trek out to Elmont, you need to make it affordable. You do that by letting fans bring in their coolers and then spend their money betting on the races. Sitting in the backyard at Belmont in the spring or fall is tradition. #bringbackcoolers
I like walking around and did so for most of the day. The grandstand had a good view, BUT you had to walk quite a bit to get there, and then you had to go back and forth for food and drink. I could see that if you're an older fan, you might think there's too much walking. The building also had a few floors that are not open yet - maybe that means more seating inside for the winter? Winter will be a different experience and will require a new review.
Overall? I like really liked it. I think younger racing fans will, too. Older fans might not enjoy just how massive the place is; I get it. And if you don't like the bright, modern look of things being built in 2026, I guess the building might offend you. I'm not one of those people.
It was very clean, modern, had strong WiFi, and felt like a great place to watch live racing. That's my take, anyway. What's missing is a review of hanging in the backyard and what it's like for the winter. Or a big race day. That will have to wait.
Go Go Greys Update
I'd say a pretty good week for America's favorite racing stable.
Miss Watermelon! 🍉🍉🍉
On Monday, Miss Watermelon broke her maiden at Presque Isle. It was a second stable win for Go Go Greys, both coming in Pennsylvania.
At 1 to 5, she was supposed to win, and she did. She got a 70 Beyer for the effort. I bet we could see her in a first-level allowance race next time. We'll see if she sticks on the synthetic surface or goes back to the dirt. She has plenty of options heading into the fall and winter.
At Belmont, Lovely Grey returned in a tough spot, the Grade 3 Winter Memories at Belmont. She got bumped a bit out of the gate. That stuck her out wide and between horses early - you're just never going to win from that trip going a mile on the turf. Her 80 Beyer is a career-best - she can run on turf and showed no issues after that tough spill at Saratoga.
Go Go Greys has a third runner of the week going Saturday, Ronna's Sizzler in Race 11 at Keeneland.
This Arkansas-bred is from trainer Ron Moquett, who reached out to Dave about her. Her sire, Roadster, is a great 2-year-old sire and hits with 17% of his first-time starters. And 20% of his 2-year-olds overall. The dam did not have much of a career, and this will be her first horse to run.
Moquett's horses usually need a start (just 2% winners, first-time starters in 2026). She's going to be a huge price in here, even with all the Go Go Greys money. I'd just be guessing here, picking her to win, and we'll see if Dave tweets about her later today (6:20 PM post), maybe he has more of a read. She'll be a big price, for sure.
Elsewhere for GGG, Boston Grey worked again at Monmouth. Drake Graye and Mr. Popover worked again at Turfway. These are all 2-year-olds working towards their career debuts.
DraftKings Race Day
Four weeks till the Breeders' Cup! DraftKings is celebrating this weekend with one of their best promotions - King of the Track 🏇🏻🏇🏻🏇🏻
Win a share of $25,000 on your eligible Straight Single Horse Win Wager on the American Pharoah Stakes.
Just opt in and place a single-horse straight win wager of $10 or more on the American Pharoah Stakes (Santa Anita, Race 7). Apply the token. Following opt-in, a $10+ straight win wager on a single horse will trigger the King of the Track token toggle. Only tokenized wagers will count toward the promotion. One per user. Cannot reissue token - canceling the wager or a scratched horse will not return the token for another entry.
If your horse wins, earn a share of $25,000 - paid in Crown Cash. See DraftKings Racing and DK Horse for details.
As far as betting the race, it goes through Bob Baffert. He seems very likely to run 1-2 in here, with both #2 Hughes (4/5) and #4 Imperial Honor (8/5) big standouts on paper. I'll be playing one of those in King of the Track, probably Hughes. But I can't endorse a longshot play here.
It's a big day for race watching, with the major preps for the Breeders' Cup everywhere. Some spot plays from a bald blogger, and I'll be making a lot of trip notes.
BELMONT PARK RACE 6
WIN/PLACE #6 SIDE QUEST
KEENELAND RACE 10
WIN/PLACE #2 BRILLIANT BERTI
KEENELAND RACE 8
WIN #8 SEGESTA
KEENELAND RACE 7
WIN #7 ECHO SOUND
BELMONT RACE 7
WIN/PLACE # 5 BOUNCE BACK
EXACTA BOX 4-5
GULFSTREAM PARK 7
WIN #1 HOLY WARRIOR
WOODBINE RACE 6
WIN #1 PROCTOR STREET
Some great racing across the country (and into Canada), and I'll be playing on DraftKings racing all day. Good luck and safe trips for all.
