ELMONT, N.Y. _ An hour before Tuesday's Belmont Stakes draw at Citi Field, a sour-faced man in a Noah Syndergaard jersey offered his unsolicited take on Saturday's race.
"No Triple Crown on the line, no Derby winner, so who cares?" he said. "Nobody's going to show up."
True, there's very little mainstream buzz for the 151st edition of the "Test of the Champion," but the Mets fan's prediction on the crowd size was about 55,000 on the low side, maybe more. It's still the Belmont, an event day for New Yorkers to see and be seen at Long Island's huge horse park, and the forecast of 80 degrees and no chance of rain should produce a few thousand walk-ups.
