Dancing With the Belmont Contenders

Horseracing is inherently rhythmic: it is hearts pulsing and hooves pounding, heads turning and hands moving, sweat dripping and legs tangling.

All this at 45 miles per hour in a tightly packed herd hurling themselves around hairpin turns - it puts the Quickstep to shame.

Like other well paid performers, racehorses each have their own style: there are those like Zenyatta who prefer to toil at the back and be all-but forgotten until the final eighth of a mile; or those like Secretariat who would pull jockey Ron Turcotte out of the irons to lead the field through its paces.

Competitive ballroom dancers are accomplished in many styles, yet typically shine in one specialty. The best racehorses are much the same.

Going into the last leg of the 2011 Triple Crown races, you’ll see these stars at the Belmont.

Shakleford is very much a Foxtrot star: his style is “quick - slow - slow - quick.” The chestnut son of Forestry has won 3-of-7 races lifetime, including the Preakness, and owns a second in the Florida Derby. His best finishes have been when he’s set or been just off a quick early pace, then slowed down for the middle fractions, and come home in a relatively quick 13-and-change.

Animal Kingdom, however, runs more in the style of the Paso Doble: a dance of passion and drama that is an interpretation of a bullfight. It is danced with sharp movements designed to create a sense of tension. The Kentucky Derby winner has never been worse than second in six starts, though anyone who’s ever had a wager on him can attest to the fact that he eeks out every last inch of the racetrack before finding the wire like a bull drawn to the red cape.

Watching “always a bridesmaid, only once a bride” Nehro is like watching someone dance the Mambo: consistent steps at the same intervals. Santiva owns a similar record of 7-1-3-1 and is consistently sluggish in his fractions, despite being rather elegant to watch - like two dancers in the continuously turning Waltz. Stay Thirsty has the Rumba rhythm down pat: “quick - quick - slow - slow.”

What does this mean for the Belmont Stakes on Saturday? If you’re like me and a fan of the true ballroom dance competitions, big races with full fields are much like the freestyle round where couples dance choreographed routines with many elements of their best dances.

In America, there is no race like the Belmont: combine the sweeping turns with the distance, and angles like post position bias and trainer statistics go out the window; as handicappers are forced to rely on pedigree and jockey ability. Plus remember the age-old adage that the best horse doesn’t always win and you might as well be dancing the frenzied Merengue come post time.

After two minutes and twenty seven seconds, one thing clearly separates dancing from racing. It’s no longer about fancy footwork. Winners often prevail by a nose. Other than Jennifer Grey – noses typically don’t take the prize on DWTS.

photo courtesy of the amazing Rick Samuels