Have to agree with the Clown in being careful on Bellamy in the future books. Based on his short history, we SHOULD have seen his best race on Saturday. That "injury" he had was minor, he was running fresh, which he does well, and he was running with an uncontested lead, which of course he prefers.

I know people see races differently and who is to say who is right, but I don't give Bellamy a big plus for his race on Saturday. The TV guys seemed to talk as much about him in defeat, as they did about Flower Alley in victory. One article I read compared Bellamy Road's defeat to Seattle Slew's loss years ago when he was so game in defeat after being dueled into submission, spotting weight, then coming again in the stretch. Bellamy had things his own way and for my nickel, he was not "coming again" in the stretch, what we saw was an illusion. Flower Alley has an established pattern of gawking and stopping once he makes the lead. He did that again in the stretch on Saturday until Johnny V got his attention and then he took off again.

I guess we have to reserve final judgment until the figures come out, but I don't think Bellamy ran that well. Very few people thought Flower Alley was a world beat before the race and Roman Ruler has been ouchy his whole short career and was coming back off 3 weeks rest, following a new top. The rest were slow. I guess it could be sour grapes on my part because I bet Bellamy hard on Saturday, but I didn't think the horse ran exceptionally well and I think he will be hardpressed to race better in the Jockey Club Gold Cup and BC Classic, considering there is little doubt he will be challenged hard on the lead, which to me is a bigger hindrance to this horse than the layoff.

Time will tell.