After a few days of oppressive haze and high air quality alerts in the Northeast, the winds changed late in the week and cleared the atmosphere for a sensational Saturday of racing at Belmont Park, highlighted by the 155th Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets.
Bob Ehalt and Tom Pedulla became fast friends when they met on their first day at Fordham Preparatory School in the Bronx, N.Y., in 1970. Bob soon introduced Tom to the joys of Thoroughbred racing.
On a sun-drenched late May afternoon in downtown Saratoga Springs, N.Y., where the temperature is at a sweet spot – not too hot, but warm enough to hint of the summer heat to come – Tom Durkin, who arrived on his bright blue Vespa (his preferred mode of transportation) sits outside of a coffee shop conversing with a man at a nearby table.