What I didn't have a chance to visit: Belmont Park Race Track

I'd been planning a little trip to New York City and my friend Benjamin Hemric offered the following advice, which, very unfortunately, I was not able to take. The emails are not edited (save some extraneous personal remarks) but Hemric's eye is so acute and his emails so useful that I want to share them with others and to encourage a visit to Belmont. I will, next time, if there is a next time.

 

Photo Credit: My stupid -- I've lost the link so if the photographer tell me I will both apologize and add his/her name

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As Ben wrote:
 

E-mail #1

By the way, this isn't what I was thinking of in terms of my list, but have you ever been to "Belmont Park" race track?  (Or any race track?) 

I'm not a horse racing fan -- I just go to look at the horses themselves -- but in the past few years I've gone to Belmont Park three times, and I think it is one of the "undiscovered" wonders of New York City -- especially for someone with an interest in the built environment.  There are some "spaces" that are not to be believed.  Plus, on one trip I took a tractor-trailer tram tour of the "backyard," which is kind of an equine suburban "utopia" with ranch house type barns along suburban-style type streets -- with horses, however, having the right of way (obviously).

Due to financial troubles, there's been talk that Belmont Park may close early this year -- and due to financial troubles, perhaps, they may cut back on the "Breakfast at Belmont" programs / tours.  (However, from a quick look at the Belmont Park website, it seems that the programs are still going full force.)

But a visit to Belmont -- especially one starting off with the early in the day "Breakfast at Belmont" program, is something I would definitely recommend to someone with an interest in the built environment. 

For instance,  there's a spur of the Long Island Rail Road that takes LIRR patrons directly to the race track, and visiting the track this way is not only a great way to re-live the "golden age" of rail but it's also a way to experience what is, in essence, a magnificent "ceremonial" approach to the race track.  The views of the track that one gets from the walk from the train station to the grandstand are breathtaking -- and one of the hidden wonders of the NYC metropolitan area.  (Due to the LIRR's financial problems, however, I believe LIRR service to Belmont Park now runs only on the day of the Belmont Stakes race.) 

The other biggest "wow" is the view from the grandstand, which is roofed but open on, basically, three sides.  The visual effect is like looking through the world's largest "picture window" out onto some Arcadian dream-scape.

Another big "wow" for me is the horse "tunnel" that goes through the grandstand to allow horses to get from the paddock (where they are saddled) to the race track itself.  It's hard to explain, but this "tunnel" is a fascinating space with an incredibly "electric" air about it -- as the horses and the jockeys are at really close range and people cheer them on as they make their way to the track.  (It almost has what I imagine to be a "matador on the way to the bull fight" air to it.)

Also, the paddock (the saddling area) at Belmont Park is quite magnetic, as there is a small grandstand that faces a circular horse walk with a famous statue of "Secretariat" at its center.

Plus the enormously long grandstand structure has a kind of "Hall of Versailles" ground level arcade that runs almost the entire length of the structure.

And the interior spaces of the grandstand are also wonderful -- they're large airy spaces with catwalks for workers, etc.

  

E-mail #2

Some additional thoughts about Belmont Park racetrack -- just for discussion, as I really don't expect that you will take a day out of your trip to visit it.

1) The other amazing thing about going to the racetrack is that it is incredibly cheap.  For example, the first time I went (which was the day that a local favorite, "Funny Cide," was running in the Belmont Stakes" for the Triple Crown), I think admission to standing room in the grandstand was something like, $1.00, and admission to the Clubhouse (the "upscale," air-conditioned part of the grandstand), was maybe just another $3.00 or so. (This was in 2003.)

2) The grandstand itself is very complex and multi-leveled -- the kind of structure that would appeal, I would think, to the late Paul Rudolph (the great architect who liked multi-leveled interiors) or his admirers.

3) The style of the building is what I call "modern traditional" -- a kind of streamlined version of traditional architecture.  Not great -- but not bad either.

4)  Belmont Park is also accessible via subway / bus -- although it is a somewhat arduous journey from Manhattan.

5) Crossing the street to get from the bus stop to the race track (which is located just over the city line in suburban Nassau County) is probably one of the more cogent examples of the non-walkability of suburbia.  It's extremely difficult and time consuming to cross this street as there aren't any stop lights and the stream of traffic, swelled by the off ramps of a nearby highway, is almost constant.  I read recently, I believe, that this street is the most dangerous one in Nassau County for pedestrians -- and I can believe it.

6) NYC's Aqueduct Racetrack is also quite interesting -- although maybe not as interesting as Belmont.  It's has a 1950s "futuristic" style about it -- rather than Belmont Park's wood and brick modern traditional.

7) The back side of the Aqueduct Racetrack clubhouse has a nice terrace that looks back towards Manhattan.

8) Both race tracks tend to be ghost towns (except Belmont when the Triple Crown is at stake) --  so there is kind of a "twilight of the gods" / half-ruin / sinking of the Titanic feel to both places.  These grand, beautiful grandstands with only you and a few other people there to populate them!

Email #3

2) Interesting to hear about the Northeast Equine Expo that you are considering visiting.  As someone with only a casual interest in horses, I didn't know about this event, and it strikes me as interesting in a Jane Jacobs kind of way:  "Isn't it interesting to see how diverse and complicated the world / Long Island is in reality?  See how easy it is to be ignorant / unaware of such "hidden" worlds, or to 'forget' about their existence."

3) The free tram ride of the backyard area was part of a free program that Belmont Park still has (at least according to the website) called, "Breakfast at Belmont."  This is one of the best bargains ever!!!  (No wonder the NYRA is going broke!) 

Don't know if you can get a chance to go, but let me tell you about the time I went -- it was great!

The program is held very early in the day (beginning around 7:00 a.m.?) when the horses are being exercised / trained on the main track.  It's held in, and near, this delightful glass enclosed coffee shop type restaurant (with open air terrace?) that is located on the first level of the grandstand club house and overlooks the track. 

One the offerings of "Breakfast at Belmont" involves a very knowledgeable commentator who gives a running commentary over the microphone to those in the coffee shop and on the terrace about what is happening on the track (e.g., what the horses are being asked to do, etc.).  You can buy breakfast, but you don't have to, I don't think.  (Using public transportation, I came in kind of late for this part of the program.)

In addition to the free tram rides (I took the ride twice), there is also a program for kids that allows them to go into a functioning starting gate to play at being horses at the beginning of a race.

The only negative, from my point of view, was that the actual racing card doesn't begin for a few hours.  So it pays to bring a book or something.  (The weather the day I went was spectacular, so just lounging around and walking around was fun.)

4) While most of the stables you can see on the tram ride are nicely maintained (some of the stables, if I remember correctly, have on the outside some sort of nicely painted coat of arms or some kind of nameplate with the names of either famous, big name horse owners or trainers), I did notice that one or two were kind of run down.  I asked the guide about that, and she said something like the stables are rented to trainers and the it's up to the trainers to maintain them.

5) Belmont Park was built by August Belmont, Jr., a turn of the century financier who was the first [and only] private lessee and operator of NYC's first subway line -- and a guy who thus had his own private subway car.  I forget, but he may have had his own railroad car too, and the rail spur that is now used by the LIRR may have enabled him to travel to Belmont Park in his own railroad car. 

6) The LIRR station at Belmont is kind of interesting.  Apparently even in it's heyday, the station didn't merit having a full-sized raised passenger platform (to make it easy for large crowds to quickly get on and get off the trains).   So instead, if I remember correctly, they built these little permanent steps all along the track that help passengers to get on and off the train quickly.  (I believe most commuter trains, at least these days, have their own built-in, fold-down steps.  But maybe this wasn't true when the Belmont Park station was first built?) 

7) The first and only time I used the LIRR to get to Belmont Park was the day that Funny Cide competed in the Belmont Stakes -- which was one of the biggest crowds they've ever had.  It was raining off and on that day, and it was kind of depressing to see that the station had an unrepaired drain-spout even for this big day.

8) The view of the race track from ramp leading from the train station to the grandstand is really breathtaking.  The racetrack area looks so green and enormous!

9) The view of the track from the grandstand is also spectacular -- and it is also something of an illusion.  The effect that is given off to the viewer is that one is on the edge of this enormous forest that just goes on forever, but the forest has an enormous clearing or meadow just in front of it.  The meadow is decorated (if I remember correctly) with nicely trimmed hedges, a little pond and a gazebo.  But, of course, much of this is an illusion, as there is on the far side of the race track only a very thin line of trees that separates the  race track from a big asphalt parking lot and, beyond that, acres and acres of suburban housing.  But the effect from the grandstand (and from TV shots) is of an enormous forest as far as the eye can see.

10) At one point the Versailles-like arcade that I mentioned (which isn't developed architecturally as fully as it should be)  crosses over a horse path that goes through the "tunnel" through the grandstand (which allows the horses to go from the paddock to the race track itself).  When the "parade" of horses crosses the pedestrian walkway in the Versailles-like arcade, gates come down across the arcade walkway to stop pedestrians from crossing over the horses' path.  It's kind of a railroad crossing for horses and kind of neat.

However, the day I was there, there was a mob scene and it was kind of confusing -- and maybe even dangerous -- as people at the back end of the crowd don't know why the pedestrians up ahead of them aren't walking.  My "City Comforts" type suggestion is that they hang "stop lights" from the ceiling of this arcade so that people further down the arcade will know that there is a temporarily closed pedestrian and horse crossing up ahead.

There is a similarly wonderful horse crossing and gate in the grandstand itself, closer to the track.  This one, if I remember correctly, is made up of big glass sliding doors.

This horse crossing is one of the parts of the race track that is most electric.  As people standing along the horse right of way are really close to the horses and the jockeys and many people are shouting "good luck" etc. to the jockeys.  And on Belmont Stakes day, especially when the Triple Crown is at stake, there are photographers and media all over the place.

On non-Belmont days, the "ponies" that escort the race horses hang out with their riders in this part of the tunnel.  And some of the riders let patrons pet the horses, etc.

11) Don't know what the paddocks are like at other racetracks (other than the delightfully weird winterized one at Aqueduct -- it's below ground level and viewable from the winterized grandstand through big curved glass windows).  But it seems to me, from seeing other racetracks on TV,  that the Belmont Park paddock is rather well done.  As mentioned, in my previous e-mail, there is a grandstand-type arrangement of raised tiers for standees to "inspect" the walking horses at close range before the bettor places any last-minute bets.  And in the center of the circular paddock walk is that wonderful statue of Secretariat.  (In my, perhaps impractical, casual fan's opinion, Belmont Park should have begged and pleaded to have Secretariat buried beneath the statue. Then the paddock would have become even more magical and mystical than it is now -- which is plenty, so it seems to me.)

12) In my opinion, the front facade of the grandstand is rather handsome, with its brick front and (fake) arches.  But again, as with the Versailles-like arcade, the design ideas were kind of left hanging and not fully exploited.

By the way, this grandstand was built in the 1960s, as the original wooden (?) one had become dangerous, I believe.

If I remember correctly, just before construction began, Frank Lloyd Wright jumped in with a proposed design.  Wonder what that would have been like?  On the one hand, I suspect that it would have been "over designed" and missing many of the nice touches that its admittedly "undistinguished" architecture now has.  (It's architect, while not one of the "big" names in architecture, was something of a racetrack specialist.)  But then again, sometimes Wright did seem to be able to design for functionality and the celebration of everyday events.  (I'm thinking of his Tokyo hotel which, if I remember correctly, did seem to get high marks from guests as a functioning hotel.)

13) The formal entrance to the grandstand, off the formal driveway drop-off, is also very handsome -- not "great" architecture by any means, but gently grand and "comfy."

14) I love the multi-level complicated-ness of the grandstand.  It takes a while to figure out what level you are on.

15) On the non-Belmont days that I went there, you could get close to the box owners' area of the grandstand.  If I remember correctly, there are nameplates and maybe some sort of built-in video screen or some sort of telecommunications device.  I think they had these little covers over them to protect them from the weather.

16) The large glass-enclosed, multi-leveled dining area in the upper reaches of the grandstand is also very nice.

17) While the Belmont website states that you have to dress up to get into the clubhouse, it appears that they are so desperate for customers these days that they let pretty much anyone in if they aren't wearing cut-offs, T-shirts and flip-flops.  My dress casual attire didn't pose any problem.  But I would have felt even more comfortable exploring various areas of the clubhouse if I had been wearing a nice sports jacket.

18) Looking at the Belmont Park website I see the prices went up -- which is GOOD!  When I went to the Belmont Stakes to see Funny Cide run (in 2003), the prices were so low it was "embarrassing." Plus the NYRA was leaving a lot of money on the table on that day -- and also maybe (maybe) a higher price would have screened out some of the rowdies that were there that day.  (I think, but am not sure, that the next year they banned people from bringing in outside liquor on Belmont Stakes day.)

19) For a while Belmont Park used to (and maybe still does) bill itself as the Taj Mahal of horse racing.  (In a way this is an unfortunate metaphor, as the beautiful Taj Mahal is not a mansion, as many seem to think, but a mausoleum!)  While the Belmont Park racetrack is, indeed, very nice (especially including its backyard [correct name?] area where the barns are located, etc.), I hear that the Saratoga, Santa Anita, and one of the Kentucky (?) tracks (other than Churchill Downs) are also pretty special.  (Santa Anita with, among other things, the San Gabriel mountains off in the distance;  and the Kentucky track with it's rather special, Central Park-like landscaping.)  Haven't heard much specifically about Del Mar.  But it's very close to the ocean, I believe, and it sounds like it would be lovely.

Hialeah was supposed to be at one time really special, and it's "replacement," Gulf Stream is supposed to be not bad.

Churchill Downs, of course, is kind of like the Vatican of racing -- so aesthetics are besides the point.  But as a "design problem" it's very interesting to see how they've added to the famous twin-spired grandstand over the years and to discuss whether they've done a good job or not.  (From seeing it on TV, it seems to me like they did as good a job as could be done.)

Funny thing about Churchill Downs vs. Belmont Park.  From TV, at least, the Churchill Downs racetrack looks like a dense, helter skelter, jumble (e.g., barns placed here and there near the track, etc.) -- kind of a Greenwich Village type race track and what you would imagine a NYC race track to be like.  And from TV, Belmont Park racetrack, on the other hand, looks neat, orderly and somewhat rural, what you would imagine a Kentucky racetrack to be like.  So we in NYC have, maybe, a "Kentucky" racetrack, and they in Kentucky have a "Greenwich Village / New York City" racetrack in the spiritual heart of Louisville.

In the NYC area, for the past few summers I've been meaning to visit Monmouth Park racetrack.  From photos (and from Google satellite photos) it looks very nice.  It is also near the ocean and, at least a few summers ago, it was accessible via a ferry boat that left from the nearby South Street Seaport.  On a nice summer day, it sounds like that would really make a delightful day trip -- talking the boat down through the harbor, past the Statue of Liberty;  under the Verrazano Bridge;  through the lower harbor;  and out into the ocean, down to Oceanport, New Jersey!  (I think the ferry route is/was actually a commuter ferry route for Wall Streeters during the work week.)

Here's another book project to put on the back burner: a coffee table book about the great race tracks of America!