By John C. O'Connell
No less a drama comes a dozen times a day at Nassau County's Belmont Park, and the racetrack has its own more-or-less hidden world called the backstretch. In the barns and on the exercise tracks, in the picnic area and paddock, in the grandstand and the betting areas, grooms and foremen, hotwalkers and stewards, trainers, stable boys, service workers, security officers, barbers and vendors all happily conspire with those in the limelight, the famous trainers, costumed jockeys and the exalted thoroughbreds and their owners, to make race day a pleasure for everyone. And while each Wednesday to Sunday at Belmont Park is thrilling, the potential for a Triple Crown win this year, by a New York horse no less, has everyone buzzing. The worlds on both sides of the rail erupted with enthusiasm when the New York thoroughbred Funny Cide won the Kentucky Derby on May 3rd and then the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore on May 17th, setting the stage for the first Triple Crown win in 25 years at the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, June 7. Life at the track, on Stakes day or any other racing day, is filled with a cast of hundreds, each playing a part.Coleman Richards has been a cleaner at Belmont, and the New York Racing Association's other two tracks, Aqueduct and Saratoga, for 17 years. He and his many co-workers have a hard job cleaning up after every racing day and preparing for the next, but that day in June is a special day for them. The Stakes brought out over 103,000 people last year."We really love this day, the Belmont Stakes. We come in here at 5 a.m. It gives us such a sense of accomplishment that we get the place so cleaned up, and then we make it all perfect for opening the very next day."The 430-acre Belmont Park, Richards said, is the only track that opens the day after such a major event. Yavuda doesn't know from saddles and bridles, but he knows a lot about manes - not horses' - humans'. At age 68, he's been a barber for 42 years and at Belmont for the last three. He and three other barbers do about 400-500 haircuts a week on the first floor of the grandstand. A Russian migr, Yavuda is proud that he's trained 132 other barbers in his career."I enjoy being at Belmont," he said. "I love the customers. Everyone comes to me, the people who work here, the celebrities, too. I have customers who come to me once and they come back here all the time to get their haircut," he said.Tricia Roy does know horses. Well. Born and raised in the horse country of upstate Chatham, New York, Roy literally lives on Belmont's backstretch, with its 61 barns, 2,200 stable-stalls and training track, and where some horse support staff reside. She says the living quarters at Belmont, which has a dorm capacity of 864 people, are "decent."Roy is a foreman employed by the highly respected and successful horse trainer, George Arnold,. "My daily routine is to go in and check the horses' legs, make sure they all have the proper equipment and make sure they're OK," Roy said. She's been at Belmont since 1993. She works seven days a week. "I've been around horses all my life. I'm very happy to be where I am, working for "Rusty" Arnold and the people I work with. I love horses. You got to like your job and I do," Roy said. Samuel Torres loves his job, too. The Elmont resident has worked as an operator of one of nine elevators in the grandstand and clubhouse for 15 years. "I like the people I meet on this job," Torres said. "This is a pretty easy job, nice working conditions, good hours and the money is OK. I like the people I work with."A sergeant for NYRA's security firm said it's very safe at Belmont. He should know; he's been there going on 39 years. "This is a family place." And it will be even safer on the day of The Stakes, he said, when 200 more officers are added to the security staff for the day. Belmont Park is surely about thoroughbreds, about handicapping, about glamour and celebrity and about betting the number five horse to show in the third. Belmont is certainly about Funny Cide as he seeks the third jewel in The Stakes. And Belmont is a drama, a dance from paddock to picnic to post, a comedy to some, and for others a betting tragedy, each time performed by a full cast of people who love what they do. Sometimes you see them. Others work their magic from way down the backstretch.
