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Thanks to egosatis for pointing it out… I guessed NYRA posted yesterday (the same day as my photo excitement post) about an expanded ban on crap for Belmont Stakes day. I get more than a little mad when there’s mass hysteria about anything to the point where it gets blown out of proportion. Now, I can understand that after the Boston Marathon bombings using pressure cookers, that you’d want to ban large coolers and bags coming in. But cameras and camera lenses? Really? Man if someone was able to build a frightful explosive, put it in one of these babies, and somehow tote it in and successfully detonate it… they deserve some type of stealth award. It all just feels excessive, kind of like when they wanted to check everyone’s shoes before boarding airplanes. If you look through a lens, you will see right through the center because it is made of glass and plastic/metal. C’mon now…

So yeah, I don’t know what I’m going to do. If I have a camera, I always take it to any horse-related event I go to and it would feel very strange to not have a camera. They haven’t banned point-and-shoots, but I don’t own one, nor am I interested in one. I don’t own a smartphone either. I am toying with the idea of applying for media credentials— being that I have to buy insurance for my equipment anyway for the documentary— but being that it is Belmont Day and it’s going to be limited access I’m not sure how hopeful I can be about it.

Doubly downing, I wanted to also bring along my new Tascam recorder that is coming in the mail soon for all you kids who have never been to a big horse race. They don’t include any crowd noises on the NBC/ESPN telecasts, so I thought it would be cool to try to capture the loudspeaker call and the roaring din. That would be so cool BUT I GUESS IT’S NOT HAPPENING! :(

I’ll have to think of some other cool way of memorializing the race.

For the next couple of weeks, you all get to deal with my excitement about attending the Belmont Stakes (I) through a series of warlgarbl’d text posts. Aw yeah.

As the ponies are one of my favorite subjects to photograph— be they Thoroughbreds, Saddlebreds, Morgans, Friesians, and others— one of the main draws for me personally at the races is getting some good snapshots of the horses in action. As a spectator, it’s tough to find your shots from mostly one vantage point, and last year I had just gotten another DSLR after having to sell the first one I had. Bringing home mostly “meh” pictures of some really outstanding photo opportunities was kind of a letdown, so I made it my goal for this year to get some better stuff to bring to the races this summer.

Incoming photo nerd stuff!

Last year, I had only just gotten my new Nikon d5000 (which many call “outdated trash” but I say otherwise… the camera model you have should be the third most important thing AND NO HIGHER on your priorities), which came with the stock automatic lens, which is pretty good, but I could only zoom out to 55mm maximum. 55mm is like what you see with your own eyes and doesn’t let you get up close, which is what I prefer to get.

This is about as good as I could get to getting a close-up of sprinter Hamazing Destiny last year. It drove me nuts just having the stock Nikkor lens on hand.

Because autofocus lenses are very expensive and only get pricer as they increase in focal length, I opted for a tried-and-true manual option. The greatest thing in the world about DSLR cameras is the backwards-compatibility they have with many old film camera lens. You can go on eBay, buy a beast piece of glass from 1991, and as long as you’ve done your homework about the mount type/buy an adapter to work with both, it works! The only reason why more people don’t buy manual lenses is because they’re a) optics whores… honestly, images don’t need to be National Geographic sharp to be beautiful! and or b) too reliant on the autofocus feature, which can be as harmful as it is helpful!

While you have a good deal of control over what the autofocus chooses to bring into focus, its results are often spotty. And honestly, if I can shift the autofocus ring myself as opposed to pushing a button, is that really worth several hundred dollars’ more? Nope. Enter my new favorite lens, the Sears 100-200mm (pictured above).

I absolutely love this thing, and even though it’s my cheapest lens ($30 on eBay), it’s my favorite one out of the 4 I currently own, which include 2 top-of-the-line Nikon pieces. It’s not super sharp, but that’s part of the draw as it gives this dreamy, soft, filmic look to all my pictures while letting me get close to my subjects:

Both images were only edited a little bit (a feature called “Leveling” which adjust the darks, middles, and highlights of the picture) and were shot in the camera’s RAW mode— an advanced shooting mode that captures very high quality picture files. This was my first time ever using this particular lens inside a dingy-dark indoor arena, so this is pretty good!

For the aspiring photo nerd: get a DSLR. Doesn’t matter what kind, though I prefer Nikon or Canon (Canon is allegedly more user friendly with richer colors, but I wouldn’t know since I’ve been Nikon all these years). Learn a little bit about photography, do some homework online about what mount type your camera accepts, and go manual on the cheap. It’s honestly getting so cheap with used DSLRs and lenses on eBay that you don’t have a good excuse to NOT want to venture outside of your smartphone and point-and-shoots. Especially if you’re like me and like going to the track and getting some spicy shots.

So yeah, I’ll have my bag o’ stuff with me at Belmont in railbird position, but I will no doubt be picking up better pictures this time around. Getting a really good picture at the track is like hitting a 20-1!

I participated in a web chat on Preakness Saturday hosted by Emily. It was a fun, hope-filled type of experience, and unless I’m daft, I don’t think anyone picked someone other than Orb as the likely eventual winner. Now that the race is over and done with, I can “unload”:

• I knew Itsmyluckyday was going to have a big shot to bounce back and win after that workout, but Pimlico played toward early speed all day which gave Oxbow the big advantage in the end to keep on going. Yes, I admitted in the Derby Dozen that after running a race every single month, Oxbow was likely off his top form. I still maintain that belief, but with his pedigree and favorable placement in the field, he managed to hang in there strong enough to win. Great job to all those who had him on top.
• Orb didn’t look likely to win from the word go. He was moved into relaxing position far back early, which looked fine given the solid pace of just under :24 for the opening quarter. But he didn’t move up. Then horses began cutting around him to the inside. I was honestly shocked to see he finished 4th with that dull a performance. Maybe it was the dead rail zone, maybe not.
• Now that Orb has lost the 2nd jewel, we can start looking forward to a free-for-all in the Belmont. We actually have an amazing lineup this year for the race by the sounds of it, and both Orb and Oxbow are listed as possibles. I don’t like either one to win the race, and I’m probably going to wind up favoring a fresh horse. But alas, that race is 3 weeks away so we shall see…

Hi again everyone! After a long break, I am excited to get back to “officially” handicapping… I say official because I picked Freedom Child to win the Peter Pan (II) on my Twitter, but it kind of disqualifies me if I didn’t put it on blast. Anyway, as a favor to Reinier and a litmus test to my luck this weekend, how about an overview for today’s historic Pimlico Special (III) for older handicap horses?

$300,000 Pimlico Special (III) - 4-Year-Olds & Up. 1 3/16 miles on dirt at Pimlico Race Course. Post Time: Friday, May 17 at 5:52pm EST.

[Post Position, Horse - Jockey, Impost, Trainer - Summary, Opinion in italics]

1) Avenida Paseo is a late-scratch

2) Indian Dance - Luis Garcia, 118 lbs, Lawrence Murphy - The Maryland-bred gelding by Indian Charlie won his last start by a smidgen here at Pimlico, edging out favored Hakama to win by a nose going 1 1/16 miles. That victory was the gelding’s first since 2010, after competing in the occasional graded stakes without success. Breeding-wise, this isn’t the race for him. Class-wise, this isn’t the race for him. He could improve off that last start some more after a layoff, but by how much is questionable.

3) Brimstone Island - Xavier Perez, 118 lbs, Wayne Campbell - A winner in last year’s Preakness undercard, the Tiznow colt is gunning for his fourth consecutive win. He has only been running in allowances, with his last graded attempt being a hopeless 6th in the Smarty Jones (III) his 2-year-old year in the slop. A colt with some hidden class, this is not an impossible field and Perez is a high percentage rider at Pimlico already with 21%. His breeding suggests route potential, and his speed figures are consistently good.

4) Eighttofasttocatch - Forest Boyce, 124 lbs, Tim Keefe - A local favorite, the Not for Love gelding is hot off a commanding 5-length win in a Pimlico stake last month in the mud. Keen to be making the pace, he tired badly in last year’s Special to finish 9th and hasn’t done a graded stakes since then. Keefe is a high percentage trainer so far this year, and Eighttofasttocatch sports some sizzling figures. If he can be rated, he win, but even with that mindset he has struggled with the class and distance jump in the past and may be overbet.

5) Richard’s Kid - Rosie Napravnik, 118 lbs, Doug O’Neill - A dominant force that has won many graded events, the Lemon Drop Kid shipper is the keen veteran coming in for the race after being disqualified to 7th in the Alysheba (II). Richard’s Kid has struggled to reach the winner’s circle since trading barns from Baffert to O’Neill, with his last win being in July 2012. The distance will suit Richard’s Kid well and with O’Neill’s successful ship rate and Napravnik’s good riding skills, he is not without a chance to close into a fast pace should it present itself. However, he has had this opportunity before and hasn’t acted on it, and being an 8-year-old this year, is it time to call it a career— even in a pretty easy field? Richard’s Kid hasn’t been the same super classy horse in a while.

6) Concealed Identity - Angel Serpa, 124 lbs, Linda Gaudet - The Smarty Jones gelding ruled the slop earlier in the year while winning a 9-furlong stake at Laurel, but lost to Eighttofasttocatch in that gelding’s most recent romp and was traded to turf unsuccessfully recently. Kind of a “meh” horse, he could win this if he can keep pace with Eighttofasttocatch this time, but is an on again, off again type. I wouldn’t go with him unless he had some really attractive odds… I think he can outlast Eighttofasttocatch at this distance should the track decide to not favor early speed.

7) Last Gunfighter - Javier Castellano, 124 lbs, Chad Brown - Bound to take the lion’s share of the winning pool after his most recent G3 win in the Excelsior to mark 5 wins in a row, the First Samurai colt is the scary shipper coming in. I’m not terribly keen on his overall class, but with his consistency no matter what setup he gets, he’s got an excellent shot to win this race upgrading to Castellano off a string of wins and lively works. He’ll get a clean break and likely move up from there. He looks like the solid favorite with a sharp 4 panel work, but the one blight on his record is the long layoff he’ll be shipping off of, with all of his recent success coming from New York tracks.

Top Picks in Order:

1) Brimstone Island

2) Last Gunfighter

3) Richard’s Kid

I imagine Eighttofasttocatch will try to rate the whole way around, and while he can win this way, I think the distance will get to him. Brimstone Island looks ready off his consistent record with his Pimlico experience and route breeding, can take this with some attractive odds. Last Gunfighter will take all the money, but shipping out off a layoff might hurt his class in the end. Richard’s Kid will try to close in late with Napravnik, but I’m sold that he’s done despite being the most accomplished in the field. Use Brimstone Island and Last Gunfighter for your double tickets.