An Epic Day in Horse Racing History

It was indeed an epic day in horse racing history. Those of us who were there will never forget the sonic boom of noise that rolled across Belmont Park as Pharoah made his way down the stretch. While some of us Donegal types may have been watching Ice instead of Pharoah, the noise made it very clear what was happening. It even eclipsed the noise made by the Breeders' Cup Crowd last year at Santa Anita when California Chrome moved on the lead in the Classic.

Dale Romans says Ice returned to Louisville in great shape. Kent Desormeaux says we learned an important lesson Saturday: We can ask Ice to run hard early and it won't take his kick away from him. Ice's biggest challenge is he doesn't like running turns. He also lacks the explosiveness to get through holes when they present themselves.

Trackus shows that Ice ran 6 1/4 lengths farther than Pharoah. That puts him 1 1/4 lengths from the win. I truly believe he ran better than most of us realized.

The issue now is what next. For Finn, the Arlington Million is penciled in as a possible target.

For Ice, there will be a breeze on the turf in about three weeks just to see how he likes it. Ice IS nominated for the Secretariat just in case he likes the grass, which he has the breeding for