News stories about the book "Horseplayers"
Gambler's Life Means None Beyond the Track
Smarty money won't travel down Boss' Bellamy Road
Few joys, many woes of going pro
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Smarty money won’t travel down Boss’ Bellamy Road
As opposed to last year, anti-Yankee sentiment will hurt ‘Evil’ horse
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Bellamy Road is the oddsmakers' favorite to win the Kentucky Derby.
But the 3-year-old certainly won't be the fan favorite if he wins, one racing expert predicts.
The horse, which opened at 5-to-2 odds of winning the Derby, is owned by George Steinbrenner. The same George Steinbrenner who is reviled nationwide as owner of the New York Yankees.
So guess how people might feel if Bellamy Road starts winning Triple Crown races?
"Say, if [Bellamy Road] wins the first two legs, there might be some resentment around him," says Ted McClelland, author of the recently released "Horseplayers: Life at the Track."
"If he advances through the Triple Crown, I do think he will become a proxy for Yankee-hating," McClelland added.
That would be an unusual phenomenon around racetracks, considering the extraordinary popularity of Smarty Jones last year.
Smarty Jones won the first two legs of the Triple Crown (the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness) before faltering in the Belmont Stakes last summer. But along the way, he became Philadelphia's biggest celebrity — receiving hundreds of letters from fans despite not being able to speak or read.
McClelland, who lives in Chicago, hasn't seen a negative reaction to Bellamy Road just yet. But given his experiences during his year as a professional horseplayer, he wouldn't be shocked.
"People are always connecting to the human side of these horses," McClelland said. "I think people who already hate the Yankees would already have that kind of reaction to it. It'd be just another trophy for the Evil Empire and people would see it that way."
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