Our favorite renewals of the Belmont Stakes

This week, we're strolling down memory lane to revisit several Belmont Stakes that hold special personal meaning for us. Our first "team blog" looks back at our favorite Belmont renewals.

Kellie Reilly: As a die-hard Easy Goer fan from the beginning, the 1989 Belmont is my lone solace in his otherwise frustrating clashes with Sunday Silence. But it's not my all-time favorite renewal. That honor goes to my hometown hero Risen Star, who turned the 1988 Belmont into a magnificent procession. Because this son of 1973 Triple Crown legend Secretariat had been based at Fair Grounds for his New Orleanian connections -- trainer/co-owner Louis Roussel III and the inimitably colorful Ronnie Lamarque -- I had been able to follow him up close all winter. I especially reveled in the fact that Risen Star used to be saddled in the corner of the old Fair Grounds interior paddock (that was adjoining the grandstand destroyed by the 1993 fire), not in one of the stalls. I would always stake out my spot right where the giant colt would stand, nestled up against the fence, so close that I could have touched him through the chain-link -- not that I ever dared! Now, months later and far away, I was watching that same colt progress through the Triple Crown. While his Preakness victory was satisfying after a troubled third in the Kentucky Derby, nothing could compare to the elation of the Belmont. Galloping home by 14 3/4 lengths in America's oldest, and longest, classic, in a sparkling 2:26 2/5, Risen Star shone as a glimmering reflection of his sire's romp.

Vance Hanson: Believing the legendary Secretariat had a good number of years left in him, I don't recall pestering my parents as a young boy to take me to Kentucky as soon as possible so I could visit him. His premature death from laminitis in October 1989 was disappointing to say the least, and was probably the catalyst for me to get to the Bluegrass before any more of the great Thoroughbred heroes of the past left the earth. I finally made my first trip in 1992, and one of the highlights of several farm visits was seeing those aging Belmont Stakes warriors from 1968 and 1969, Stage Door Johnny and Arts and Letters, at Gainesway. They were the oldest American classic winners and champions I ever saw in the flesh. Years later, I paid my respects to Secretariat at the Claiborne Farm Cemetery, and also got to see his greatest son, Risen Star, when he was still alive. Risen Star's win in the 1988 Belmont is still one of the most awesome displays of authority I've ever watched. As he opened up to what would become a 14 3/4-length demolition in a sparkling 2:26 2/5, ABC announcer Dave Johnson exclaimed, "He looks like his daddy at this point!" Well, almost. For those of us born well after Secretariat's exploits, it's as close as we were going to get. Unfortunately, Risen Star never ran again, but to wear the crown in a crop that included Forty Niner, Seeking the Gold, Brian's Time, Private Terms, and Proper Reality signified he was very special. How he would have fared against the likes of Alysheba that fall is one of the great unanswered questions of modern racing history. Re-watching his Belmont run, me thinks it would have been a terrific horse race.

James Scully: This year marks the sixth Belmont Stakes I'll attend with a Triple Crown on the line and nothing compares to the finish of the 1998 edition -- the adrenaline rush left my hairs standing up. In the Kentucky Derby, Real Quiet narrowly held off the closing kick of Victory Gallop, who was compromised by a wide trip on both turns, but the Preakness was more one-sided, with Real Quiet finishing 2 1/4 lengths clear of his rival in second. The Belmont Stakes was one for the ages. Kent Desormeax pulled an early trigger aboard the 4-5 favorite, launching a move entering the far turn, and Real Quiet arrived at the top of the stretch with a widening lead. Up by four lengths with only a furlong remaining, Real Quiet was poised to finally end the Triple Crown drought and I thought it was over before it was over; the late-running dynamo Victory Gallop quickly changed perspectives. Scores of fans were suddenly holding their breath, bracing for a tight finish as Victory Gallop came charging into the frame with the wire fast-approaching. I didn't know who won at first (my first thought was dead-heat, the greatest dead-heat in the history of Thoroughbred racing) and ran to watch the replay up close on a television monitor with the "photo" sign lit. Victory Gallop prevailed by a nose, crushing the dreams of many who hoped to see history made, but it was still a dandy of a horse race.