Thursday Thoughts with Jason Beem Sept. 3, 2026

A good Thursday morning to you all! Labor Day Weekend is upon us and the holiday always makes me think about River Downs and the Cradle Stakes. River was my first announcer job in 2006 and all spring and summer that year, I kept hearing about how amazing Labor Day was going to be. It was our closing day but also our biggest race of the season was held, the $200,000 Cradle Stakes. 

Back then River Downs drew very good crowds. They’ve since tore down the old grandstand and renamed the track Belterra Park, but it’s still basically in the same location along the banks of the Ohio River. And in my couple of visits to the new iteration of the track, they still get a decent live crowd. But Labor Day, well that was a whole different ballgame.  

Attendance numbers in racing are notoriously suspect, but I remember our boss telling me we’d have 10,000 people there for Cradle Stakes Day. I don’t remember if it was 10,000 or not, but it was packed. The card was mostly the normal River Downs fare, with lots of claiming races and a couple of allowance races before the one stakes on the card, the Cradle. 

Just two years earlier, Bellamy Road won the Cradle and went on to be the Kentucky Derby (G1) favorite the next year, so I was super excited for the race. Entries came out and I had the field, their names and silks memorized several days beforehand. The race itself featured a bit of an upset, as Passport won for Corey Lanerie at odds of 9-2. 

Oddly enough though, my strongest memory of that day isn’t from the Cradle Stakes itself. It was from the race after it. The last race of the season at River used to be a 1 7/8-mile turf race, so essentially two laps around the oval. I remember getting ready for that race and being so relieved that the Cradle was over and went well. So, I was just ready to have some fun calling this one. 

The field broke and about midway on the far turn of the first lap, I see a horse in pink silks start opening up from the field. Turning for home the jock is whipping and pushing and I realize “Oh no, he forgot it’s a two-lap race.” 

Now as I said it was the last race of the meet and I was ready to have some fun, so I started giving it to him in the race call. When he arrived at the finish line almost 20 lengths in front, I remember saying something to the effect of “he’s in front by 20………WITH ONE LAP TO GO!”  

The jockey galloped out and by the entrance to the backstretch on the second time around, the field caught him. You could see the second of confusion, followed by the realization of what had happened. Followed then by him asking the horse to get going once again. I remember being kind of mad that he had the nerve to ask the horse for his best after a big first mile. To be fair, they didn’t run last, ending up eighth out of 12. So not sure what that says about the last four finishers, but I digress. 

Labor Day is such a big transition day for the horse racing calendar. Saratoga, Del Mar, and Colonial all end. The fall lead-ups to the Breeders’ Cup get started and next thing you know winter is here. It’s unofficial end of summer for many and always feels that way in racing, too. But Labor Day will always make me think of River Downs and those special summers in the mid-2000s. And all the great people who I got to work with there, many of whom aren’t with us anymore. 

Have a great weekend everyone!