But the Belmont scratched "Sidewalks" in 1997 in favor of the cheesy, strident anthem "New York, New York." (It's not much of a consolation, but it could be worse: The 2010 Belmont featured Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' truly awful "Empire State of Mind." That was apparently just a one-year mistake, and "New York, New York" was back on the soundtrack thereafter.) "The Sidewalks of New York," written in the 1890s, dates back to the era when Belmont Park itself was built. The Kentucky Derby knows enough to stick with "My Old Kentucky Home" and the Preakness stands by "Maryland, My Maryland"-and those races are unimaginable without them. Their spirits live in the very winds that sweep the Hempstead Plain.īut the race's embrace of its history, welcome as it is, unfortunately neglects one notable part of the Belmont's heritage-the playing of "The Sidewalks of New York" as the accompaniment to the parade after the race. It is racing's Broadway, destination of the immortal and merely great, a place defined not by its founders, but the horses who have run here-from Man o' War, Colin, Count Fleet, Gallant Fox, Whirlaway, and Citation to Jaipur, Buckpasser, Kelso, Fort Marcy, Arts and Letters, Key to the Mint, Native Dancer. A century after its opening, Belmont Park remains the keystone of thoroughbred racing in North America hallowed ground on which every great American thoroughbred has claimed its place in history.
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